If I say, I will forget my complaint. I will put off my [sad] countenance, and be of good cheer,

I will say to God, Do not condemn me. Show me why thou contend with me.

Is it good to thee that thou should oppress, that thou should despise the work of thy hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?

But O that God would speak, and open his lips against thee,

and that he would show thee the secrets of wisdom! For he is manifold in understanding. Know therefore that God exacts of thee less than thine iniquity deserves.

Can thou find out God by searching? Can thou find out the Almighty to perfection?

I am as a man who is a laughing-stock to his neighbor. I who called upon God, and he answered. The just, the perfect man is a laughing-stock.

The tents of robbers prosper, and those who provoke God are secure. Into whose hand God brings [abundantly].

With [God] is wisdom and might. He has counsel and understanding.

Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God.

Will ye speak unrighteously for God, and talk deceitfully for him?

Will ye show partiality to him? Will ye contend for God?

Is it good that he should search you out? Or as deceiving a man, will ye deceive him?

Be quiet. Let me alone that I may speak, and let come on me what will.

He comes forth like a flower, and is cut down. He too flees as a shadow, and does not continue.

For there is hope of a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch of it will not cease.

Should he reason with unprofitable talk, or with speeches with which he can do no good?

Yea, thou do away with fear, and hinder devotion before God.

Have thou heard the secret counsel of God? And do thou limit wisdom to thyself?

Are the consolations of God too small for thee, even the word that is gentle toward thee?

that against God thou turn thy spirit, and let words go out of thy mouth?

Because he has stretched out his hand against God, and behaves himself proudly against the Almighty.

He shall not depart out of darkness. The flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of [God's] mouth he shall go away.

God delivers me to the perverse, and casts me into the hands of the wicked.

My friends scoff at me. My eye pours out tears to God

that he would maintain the right of a man with God, and of a son of man with his neighbor!

His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off.

Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous, and this is the place of him who does not know God.

know now that God has subverted me, and has encompassed me with his net.

Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends, for the hand of God has touched me.

Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?

And after my skin, this [body], is destroyed, then outside my flesh I shall see God,

He has swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again. God will cast them out of his belly.

When he is about to fill his belly, [God] will cast the fierceness of his wrath upon him, and will rain it upon him while he is eating.

This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed to him by God.

Their houses are safe from fear, nor is the rod of God upon them.

And they say to God, Depart from us, for we do not desire the knowledge of thy ways.

How often is it that the lamp of the profane is put out, that their calamity comes upon them, that [God] distributes sorrows in his anger,

[Ye say], God lays up his iniquity for his sons. Let him recompense it to himself that he may know it.

For what does he care for his house after him when the number of his months is cut off?

Shall any teach God knowledge, seeing he judges those who are high?

One man dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet.

And another man dies in bitterness of soul, and never tastes of good.

Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.

Is not God in the height of heaven? And behold the height of the stars, how high they are!

And thou say, What does God know? Can he judge through the thick darkness?

who said to God, Depart from us, and, What can the Almighty do for us?

Yet he filled their houses with good things. But the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

[Saying], Surely those who rose up against us are cut off, and the remnant of them, the fire has consumed.

Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace. By this good shall come to thee.

For then shall thou delight thyself in the Almighty, and shall lift up thy face to God.

For God has made my heart faint, and the Almighty has terrified me,

because I was not cut off before the darkness, nor did he cover the thick darkness from my face.

They cut their provender in the field, and they glean the vintage of the wicked.

From out of the populous city men groan, and the soul of the wounded cries out. Yet God does not regard the folly.

He devours the barren who do not bear, and does no good to the widow.

Yet [God] preserves the mighty by his power. He rises up who has no assurance of life.

[God] gives them to be in security, and they rest in it. And his eyes are upon their ways.

They are exalted. Yet a little while, and they are gone. Yea, they are brought low. They are taken out of the way as all others, and are cut off as the tops of the ears of grain.

How then can man be just with God? Or how can he be clean who is born of a woman?

Sheol is naked before [God], and Abaddon has no covering.

As God lives, who has taken away my right, and the Almighty, who has vexed my soul.

(For my life is yet whole in me. And the spirit of God is in my nostrils.)

For what is the hope of the profane, though he gets him gain, when God takes away his soul?

Will God hear his cry when trouble comes upon him?

Will he delight himself in the Almighty, and call upon God at all times?

I will teach you concerning the hand of God. That which is with the Almighty I will not conceal.

This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of oppressors, which they receive from the Almighty.

For [God] shall hurl at him, and not spare. He would gladly flee out of his hand.

God understands the way of it, and he knows the place of it.

O that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me,

as I was in the ripeness of my days, when the friendship of God was upon my tent,

when I went forth to the gate to the city, when I prepared my seat in the street.

By the great force my garment is disfigured. It binds me about as the collar of my coat.

When I looked for good, then evil came. And when I waited for light, there came darkness.

For what is the portion from God above, and the heritage from the Almighty on high?

(let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know my integrity);

what then shall I do when God rises up? And when he visits, what shall I answer him?

if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate,

For calamity from God is a terror to me, and I can do nothing because of his majesty.

(this also is an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have denied the God that is above);

Then the anger of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was kindled. His anger was kindled against Job because he justified himself rather than God.

Beware lest ye say, We have found wisdom. God may vanquish him, not man.

The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

Behold, I am toward God even as thou are. I also am formed out of the clay.

Behold, I will answer thee. In this thou are not just, for God is greater than man.

For God speaks once, yea twice, [though man] does not regard it.

then [God] is gracious to him, and says, Deliver him from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom.

He prays to God, and he is favorable to him, so that he sees his face with joy, and he restores to man his righteousness.

Lo, all these things God works twice, [yea] thrice, with a man,

Let us choose for us that which is right. Let us know among ourselves what is good.

For Job has said, I am righteous, and God has taken away my right.

Yea, certainly God will not do wrong. Neither will the Almighty pervert justice.

For he needs no further to consider a man, that he should go before God in judgment.

For has any said to God, I have borne [chastisement], I will not offend [any more].

But none says, Where is God my maker who gives songs in the night,

Surely God will not hear an empty [cry], nor will the Almighty regard it.

Allow me a little, and I will show thee. For I have yet somewhat to say on God's behalf.

Behold, God is mighty, and does not despise. He is mighty in strength of understanding.

Do not desire the night, when peoples are cut off in their place.