This day the women of nobility from Persia and Media will respond to all the officials of the king and there will be no end to contempt and anger.

"All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that [if] any man or woman who goes to the king to the inner courtyard, who is not called, he has one law, to be killed, except if the king extends to him the gold scepter so that he may live. I have not been called to come to the king {for thirty days}."

the Jews gathered in their cities in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus {to strike against} those who sought their destruction, and no one could withstand them, as the fear of them fell on all the people.

So Yahweh said to Satan, "Have you {considered} my servant Job? Indeed, there is no one like him on the earth--a blameless man and upright and God-fearing and turning away from evil."

So Yahweh {asked} Satan, "Have you {considered} my servant Job? Indeed, there is no one like him on the earth--a blameless man and upright and God-fearing and turning away from evil. And still he persists in his blamelessness {even though} you incited me against him to destroy him for nothing."

Then they sat with him on the ground [for] seven days and seven nights, but no one spoke a word to him because they saw that {his} suffering was very great.

For now I would lie down, and I would be at peace; I would be asleep; then {I would be at rest}

But now it has come to you, and you are worn out; it touches you, and you are horrified.

"{Think} now, who has perished [who is] innocent? Or where [are] the upright destroyed?

"Call now, is there [anyone] answering you? And to which of [the] holy ones will you turn?

His children are far from deliverance, and they are crushed in the gate, and there is no deliverer--

And you shall know that your tent [is] safe, and you will inspect your fold, and you shall not be missing [anything].

And you shall know that your offspring [are] many, and your descendants like the vegetation of the earth.

"Look, we have searched this out--it [is] true; hear it and know [it] {yourself}."

"For now you have become {such}; you see terrors, and you fear.

Please turn, let no injustice happen; indeed, turn, {my righteousness is still intact}.

And why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my guilt? For now I shall lie in the dust, and you will seek me, but {I will be no more}."

If you [are] pure and upright, indeed, now he will rouse himself for you, and he will restore your righteous abode.

for we [are of] yesterday, and we do not know, for our days on earth [are] a shadow.

[Those] who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked {will be no more}."

"Truly I know that [it is] so, but how can a human being be just before God?

"[He is the one] who moves mountains, and they do not know [how], who overturns them in his anger.

I become afraid of all my sufferings; I know that you do not consider me innocent.

There is no arbiter between us [that] he might lay his hand on both of us.

I will say to God, 'You should not condemn me; let me know why you contend [against] me.

because of your knowledge that I am not guilty, and there is no escaping from your hand?

" 'Yet you hid these [things] in your heart; I know that this {was your purpose}.

So why did you bring me forth from the womb? I should have passed away, {and no eye should have seen me}.

Should your loose talk put people to silence? {And when you mock, shall no one put you to shame}?

and [that] he would tell you [the] secrets of wisdom, for {insight has many sides}. And know that God {on your behalf} has forgotten {some of} your guilt.

{It is higher than the heaven}; what can you do? [It is] deeper than Sheol; what can you know?

And you will lie down, and {no one will make you afraid}; {and many will entreat your favor}.

{I also have insight} like you; I am not more inferior than you. And {who does not know things like these}?

Who among all of these does not know that Yahweh's hand has done this?

{What you know}, I myself also know-- I [am] not more inferior than you.

Please look, I have prepared [my] case; I know that I myself will be vindicated.

"Who can bring a clean [thing] from an unclean [thing]? No one!

"Indeed, there is hope for a tree: if it is cut down, then it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not cease;

{so} a man lies down, and he does not arise. {Until the heavens are no more}, they will not awaken, and they will not be roused out of their sleep.

His children may [come to] honor, but he does not know [it]; or they may become lowly, but he does not realize it.

What do you know that we do not know? [What] do you understand that [is] not clear to us?

{to whom alone} the land was given, and no stranger passed through their midst.

"He will not escape from darkness; a flame will dry up his new shoot, and by the wind of his mouth he shall be removed.

"Surely now he has worn me out; you have devastated all my company.

"O earth, you should not cover my blood, and let there be no place for my cry for help.

So now look, my witness [is] in the heavens, and he [who] vouches for me [is] in the heights.

[There is] no offspring for him nor a descendant among his people, and there is not a survivor in his abode.

know then that God has wronged me and has surrounded me [with] his net.

"Look, I cry out, 'Violence!' but I am not answered; I cry out, but there is no justice.

But I myself know [that] my redeemer [is] alive, and [at the] last he will stand up upon {the earth}.

be afraid for yourselves {because of the sword}, for wrath [brings] punishment by [the] sword, so that you may know that [there is] judgment."

"Did you know this from of old, since the setting of [the] human being on earth,

[The] eye [that] saw him {will not see him again}, and his place will no longer behold him.

And they say to God, 'Turn away from us, for we do not desire to know your ways.

'God stores up his iniquity for his children'? [Then] let him repay [it] to him that he may know.

"Look, I know your thoughts and [the] schemes you devise against me.

[Is] not your wickedness great, and there is no end to your iniquities?

You have given no water [for the] weary to drink, and you withheld food from [the] hungry.

And you ask, 'What does God know? Can he judge through deep gloom?

{O that} I knew and [that] I might find him; [O that] I might come to his dwelling.

I want to know [the] words [with which] he would answer me, and I want to understand what he would say to me.

Would he contend with me in [the] greatness of [his] strength? No, but he himself would give heed to me.

"Why are not times kept by Shaddai, and [why] do not [those who] know him see his days?

They spend the night naked, {without} clothing, and [they] have no garment in the cold.

And [the] eye of [the] adulterer waits for dusk, saying, {'No eye will see me,'} and he places a covering [on his] face.

He digs through houses in the darkness; by day they shut themselves in-- they do not know [the] light

because morning likewise is to them deep darkness; indeed, they know about [the] terrors of deep darkness.

"He himself [is] swift on [the] water's surface; their portion is cursed in the land. {No one turns toward the path of their vineyards}.

[The] womb forgets him. [The] maggot feasts on him [until] he is no longer remembered, and wickedness is broken like a tree.

[He] feeds on [the] barren, [who] does not have a child, and does no good to [the] widow.

"How you have helped {one who has no power}! [How] you have assisted [the] arm {that has no strength}!

How you have advised {one who has no wisdom}! And [what] sound wisdom you have made known {in abundance}!

Sheol [is] naked before him, and there is no covering for Abaddon.

He goes to bed [with] wealth, but {he will do so no more}; he opens his eyes, and {it is gone}.

And it hurls at him, and it has no compassion; he will quickly flee from its power.

"[It is] a path a bird of prey does not know and [the] black kite's eye has not seen.

A human being does not know its proper value, and it is not found in [the] land of the living.

because I saved [the] needy who cried for help, and [I saved] [the] orphan for whom [there was] no helper.

My glory [was] new with me, and {I was revitalized regularly}.'

I smiled for them [when] they had no confidence [in anything], and they did not extinguish the light of my face.

"But now [those] younger than I, as far as days, laugh at me, whose fathers I rejected for setting with the dogs of my sheep and goats.

"But now I am their mocking song, and I have become a byword for them.

They destroy my path; they promote my destruction; they have no helper.

"And now my life is poured out onto me; days of misery have taken hold of me.

Indeed, I know [that] you will bring me to death and [to the] house of assembly for all [the] living.

let him weigh me in [the] balance of justice, and let God know my blamelessness.

if I have seen [the one who] perishes because of no clothing or [that] there is no covering for the poor,

no, I have not allowed my mouth to sin, to ask his life with a curse.

When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of the three men, {he became angry}.

And I directed my attention to you; and, look, there is no [one] for Job [who] refuted, answering his words among you.

"They are dismayed; they no longer answer; {they have nothing to say}.

And I have waited because they do not speak, because they stand [there] [and] no longer answer.

"Look, my internal organs [are] like unopened wine, like new wineskins it is [ready] to burst open.

for I do not know [how] {to flatter}, [else] my Maker would {soon} put an end to me.

"But now, please hear my speeches, Job, and hear all my words.

My words [declare] my heart's uprightness, and my lips sincerely speak {what my lips know}.

'I [am] clean, without transgression; I [am] pure, and [there is] no guilt in me.

"Hear my words, you wise men, and listen to me, you who know,

who {shows no partiality to officials} and [who] {does not take note of the noble more than of the insignificant}, for all of them [are] the work of his hands?

There is no darkness, and there is no deep shadow where instigators of mischief might hide themselves.