They are pulling off the salt leaves from the brushwood, and making a meal of roots.

They are sent out from among their townsmen, men are crying after them as thieves

They have to get a resting-place in the hollows of the valleys, in holes of the earth and rocks.

They make noises like asses among the brushwood; they get together under the thorns.

They are sons of shame, and of men without a name, who have been forced out of the land.

I am disgusting to them; they keep away from me, and put marks of shame on me.

They have made waste my roads, with a view to my destruction; his bowmen come round about me;

As through a wide broken place in the wall they come on, I am overturned by the shock of their attack.

The flesh is gone from my bones, and they give me no rest; there is no end to my pains.

If I did wrong in the cause of my man-servant, or my woman-servant, when they went to law with me;

And he was angry with his three friends, because they had been unable to give him an answer, and had not made Job's sin clear.

Now Elihu had kept quiet while Job was talking, because they were older than he;

Fear has overcome them, they have no more answers to give; they have come to an end of words.

And am I to go on waiting while they have nothing to say? while they keep quiet and give no more answers?

In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep comes on men, while they take their rest on their beds;

Then he makes his secrets clear to men, so that they are full of fear at what they see;

Who has no respect for rulers, and who gives no more attention to those who have wealth than to the poor, for they are all the work of his hands.

Suddenly they come to an end, even in the middle of the night: the blow comes on the men of wealth, and they are gone, and the strong are taken away without the hand of man.

For he has knowledge of their works, overturning them in the night, so that they are crushed.

Because they did not go after him, and took no note of his ways,

Job's words do not come from knowledge; they are not the fruit of wisdom.

Let your eyes be turned to the heavens, and lifted up to see the skies; they are higher than you.

Because the hand of the cruel is hard on them, men are making sounds of grief; they are crying out for help because of the arm of the strong.

There they are crying out because of the pride of the evil-doers, but he gives them no answer.

And if they have been prisoned in chains, and taken in cords of trouble,

Then he makes clear to them what they have done, even their evil works in which they have taken pride.

If they give ear to his voice, and do his word, then he gives them long life, and years full of pleasure.

But if not, they come to their end, and give up their breath without knowledge.

Those who have no fear of God keep wrath stored up in their hearts; they give no cry for help when they are made prisoners.

They come to their end while they are still young, their life is short like that of those who are used for sex purposes in the worship of their gods.

Do you send out the thunder-flames, so that they may go, and say to you, Here we are?

When they are stretched out in their holes, and are waiting in the brushwood?

Is the number of their months fixed by you? or is the time when they give birth ordered by you?

They are bent down, they give birth to their young, they let loose the fruit of their body.

Their young ones are strong, living in the open country; they go out and do not come back again.

Without a thought that they may be crushed by the foot, and broken by the beasts of the field?

She is cruel to her young ones, as if they were not hers; her work is to no purpose; she has no fear.

Will the fishermen make profit out of him? will they have him cut up for the traders?

They take a grip of one another; they are joined together, so that they may not be parted.

And all his brothers and sisters, and his friends of earlier days, came and took food with him in his house; and made clear their grief for him, and gave him comfort for all the evil which the Lord had sent on him; and they all gave him a bit of money and a gold ring.

For this cause there will be no mercy for sinners when they are judged, and the evil-doers will have no place among the upright,

Then will his angry words come to their ears, and by his wrath they will be troubled:

They will be ruled by you with a rod of iron; they will be broken like a potter's vessel.

Lord, how greatly are they increased who make attacks on me! in great numbers they come against me.

Lord, you have put joy in my heart, more than they have when their grain and their wine are increased.

Send them to destruction, O Lord; let their evil designs be the cause of their fall; let them be forced out by all their sins; because they have gone against your authority.

My eyes are wasting away with trouble; they are becoming old because of all those who are against me.

When my haters are turned back, they will be broken and overcome before you.

You have given their towns to destruction; the memory of them has gone; they have become waste for ever.

The nations have gone down into the hole which they made: in their secret net is their foot taken.

Put them in fear, O Lord, so that the nations may see that they are only men. (Selah.)

His ways are ever fixed; your decisions are higher than he may see: as for his haters, they are as nothing to him.

See, the bows of the evil-doers are bent, they make ready their arrows on the cord, so that they may send them secretly against the upright in heart.

They have said, With our tongues will we overcome; our lips are ours: who is lord over us?

The foolish man has said in his heart, God will not do anything. They are unclean, they have done evil works; there is not one who does good.

They have all gone out of the way together; they are unclean, there is not one who does good, no, not one.

Have all the workers of evil no knowledge? they take my people for food as they would take bread; they make no prayer to the Lord.

Then were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of the upright.

As for the saints who are in the earth, they are the noble in whom is all my delight.

He sent out his arrows, driving them in all directions; by his flames of fire they were troubled.

He made me free from my strong hater, and from those who were against me, because they were stronger than I.

They came on me in the day of my trouble; but the Lord was my support.

I go after my haters and overtake them; not turning back till they are all overcome.

I will give them wounds, so that they are not able to get up: they are stretched under my feet.

They were crying out, but there was no one to come to their help: even to the Lord, but he gave them no answer.

Then they were crushed as small as dust before the wind; they were drained out like the waste of the streets.

From the time when my name comes to their ears they will be ruled by me: men of other countries will, with false hearts, put themselves under my authority.

They will be wasting away, they will come out of their secret places shaking with fear.

More to be desired are they than gold, even than much shining gold; sweeter than the dropping honey.

They are bent down and made low; but we have been lifted up.

You will make them like a flaming oven before you; the Lord in his wrath will put an end to them, and they will be burned up in the fire.

For their thoughts were bitter against you: they had an evil design in their minds, which they were not able to put into effect.

Our fathers had faith in you: they had faith and you were their saviour.

They sent up their cry to you and were made free: they put their faith in you and were not put to shame.

I am laughed at by all those who see me: pushing out their lips and shaking their heads they say,

Dogs have come round me: I am shut in by the band of evil-doers; they made wounds in my hands and feet.

They make a division of my robes among them, by the decision of chance they take my clothing.

They will come and make his righteousness clear to a people of the future because he has done this.

O Lord, keep in mind your pity and your mercies; for they have been from the earliest times.

When evil-doers, even my haters, came on me to put an end to me, they were broken and put to shame.

Because they have no respect for the works of the Lord, or for the things which his hands have made, they will be broken down and not lifted up by him.

Take me out of the net which they have put ready for me secretly; for you are my strength.

False statements against me have come to my ears; fear was on every side: they were talking together against me, designing to take away my life.

For without cause they have put a net ready for me secretly, in which to take my soul.

False witnesses got up: they put questions to me about crimes of which I had no knowledge.

They gave me back evil for good, troubling my soul.

But as for me, when they were ill I put on the clothing of sorrow: I went without food and was sad, and my prayer came back again to my heart.

But they took pleasure in my trouble, and came together, yes, low persons came together against me without my knowledge; they never came to an end of wounding me.

Like men of deceit they put me to shame; the voice of their wrath was loud against me.

For they do not say words of peace; in their deceit they are designing evil things against the quiet ones in the land.

Their mouths were open wide against me, and they said, Aha, aha, our eyes have seen it.

There the workers of evil have come down: they have been made low, and will not be lifted up.

For they will quickly be cut down like grass, and become dry like the green plants.

But the gentle will have the earth for their heritage; they will take their delight in peace without measure.

They will not be shamed in the evil time, and in the days when all are in need of food they will have enough.

But the wrongdoers will come to destruction, and the haters of the Lord will be like the fat of lambs, they will be burned up; they will go up in smoke, and never again be seen.

For the Lord is a lover of righteousness, and takes care of his saints; they will be kept safe for ever; but the seed of the evil-doers will be cut off.

But as for the sinners, they will be cut off together; the end of the wrongdoers is destruction.

And the Lord will be their help, and keep them safe: he will take them out of the hands of the evil-doers, and be their saviour, because they had faith in him.

For unnumbered evils are round about me; my sins have overtaken me, so that I am bent down with their weight; they are more than the hairs of my head, my strength is gone because of them.