“Only [O Lord,] do not do two things to me,
And then I will not hide myself from Your face:

Withdraw Your hand from me and remove this bodily suffering,
And let not the dread of You terrify me.

“You also put my feet in the stocks [as punishment]
And [critically] observe all my paths;
You set a circle and limit around the soles of my feet [which I must not overstep],

“Like a flower he comes forth and withers;
He also flees like a shadow and does not remain.

“For there is hope for a tree,
If it is cut down, that it will sprout again,
And that the shoots of it will not cease nor fail, [but there is no such hope for man].

So man lies down and does not rise [again].
Until the heavens are no longer,
The dead will not awake nor be raised from their sleep.

“But now You number [each of] my steps;
You do not observe nor take note of my sin.

“His sons achieve honor, and he does not know it;
They become insignificant, and he is not aware of it.

“Your own mouth condemns you, and not I;
Yes, your own lips testify against you.

“What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that is not equally clear to us?

“Are the consolations of God [as we have interpreted them to you] too trivial for you,
[Or] were we too gentle toward you [in our first speech] to be effective?

“Behold, God puts no trust in His holy ones (angels);
Indeed, the heavens are not pure in His sight—

What wise men have [freely] told,
And have not hidden [anything passed on to them] from their fathers,

“A [dreadful] sound of terrors is in his ears;
While at peace and in a time of prosperity the destroyer comes upon him [the tent of the robber is not at peace].

“He does not believe that he will return out of the darkness [for fear of being murdered],
And he is destined for the sword [of God’s vengeance].

He will not become rich, nor will his wealth endure;
And his grain will not bend to the earth nor his possessions be extended on the earth.

“He will not escape from darkness [fleeing disaster];
The flame [of God’s wrath] will wither his branch,
And by the blast of His mouth he will go away.

“Let him not trust in vanity (emptiness, futility) and be led astray;
For emptiness will be his reward [for such living].

“It will be fulfilled while he still lives,
And his branch will not be green [but shall wither away].

“If I speak [to you miserable comforters], my pain is not relieved;
And if I refrain [from speaking], what [pain or anguish] leaves me?

“His arrows surround me.
He pierces my kidneys (vital organs) without mercy;
He pours out my gall on the ground.

“O earth, do not cover my blood,
And let there be no [resting] place for my cry [where it will cease being heard].

“For when a few years are past,
I shall go the way of no return.

“But You [Lord] have closed their hearts to understanding,
Therefore You will not exalt them [by giving a verdict against me].

“But as for all of you, come back again,
Even though I do not find a wise man among you.

“These [thoughts try to] make the night into the day;
‘The light is near,’ they say in the presence of darkness [but they pervert the truth].

“Indeed, the light of the wicked will be put out,
And the flame of his fire will not shine.

“For the wicked is thrown into a net by his own feet (wickedness),
And he steps on the webbing [of the lattice-covered pit].

“Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked and the ungodly,
And such is the place of him who does not know or recognize or honor God.”

“These ten times you have insulted me;
You are not ashamed to wrong me [and harden your hearts against me].

Know then that God has wronged me and overthrown me
And has closed His net around me.

“Behold, I cry out, ‘Violence!’ but I am not heard;
I shout for help, but there is no justice.

“Why do you persecute me as God does?
Why are you not satisfied with my flesh (anguish)?

Whom I, even I, will see for myself,
And my eyes will see Him and not another!
My heart faints within me.

“Do you not know this from the old days,
Since the time that man was placed on the earth,

“He flies away like a dream and cannot be found;
Yes, he is chased away like a vision of the night.

“He does not look at the rivers,
The flowing streams of honey and butter [to enjoy his wealth].

“He gives back what he has labored for and attained
And cannot swallow it [down to enjoy it];
As to the riches of his labor,
He cannot even enjoy them.

“For he has oppressed and neglected the poor;
He has violently taken away houses which he did not build.

“Because he knew no quietness or calm within him [because of his greed],
He does not retain anything he desires.

“There is nothing left of what he devoured;
Therefore his prosperity does not endure.

Complete darkness (misfortune) is held in reserve for his treasures.
An unfanned fire will devour him;
It will consume the survivor in his tent.

“As for me, is my complaint to man or about him?
And why should I not be impatient and my spirit troubled?

“His bull breeds and does not fail;
His cow calves and does not miscarry.

“Yet they say to God, ‘Depart from us,
For we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways.

“But notice, the prosperity of the wicked is not in their hand (in their power);
The counsel of the wicked [and the mystery of God’s dealings with the ungodly] is far from my comprehension.

“Have you not asked those who travel this way,
And do you not recognize their witness?

“Is not your wickedness great,
And your sins without end?

“You have not given water to the weary to drink,
And you have withheld bread from the hungry.

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

‘Thick clouds are a hiding place for Him, so that He cannot see,
And He walks on the vault (circle) of the heavens.’

“He will even rescue the one [for whom you intercede] who is not innocent;
And he will be rescued through the cleanness of your hands.”

“Behold, I go forward (to the east), but He is not there;
I go backward (to the west), but I cannot perceive Him;

“My feet have carefully followed His steps;
I have kept His ways and not turned aside.

“I have not departed from the commandment of His lips;
I have kept the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.

But I am not silenced by the darkness [of these woes that fell on me],
Nor by the thick darkness which covers my face.

“Why does the Almighty not set seasons for judgment?
Why do those who know Him not see His days [for punishment of the wicked]?

“They harvest their fodder in a field [that is not their own],
And glean the vineyard of the wicked.

“They spend the night naked, without clothing,
And have no covering against the cold.

“They cause the poor to go about naked without clothing,
And they take away the sheaves [of grain] from the hungry.

“From the [populous and crowded] city men groan,
And the souls of the wounded cry out for help;
Yet God [seemingly] does not pay attention to the wrong [done to them].

“Others have been with those who rebel against the light;
They do not want to know its ways
Nor stay in its paths.

“The murderer rises at dawn;
He kills the poor and the needy,
And at night he becomes a thief.

“In the dark they dig into [the penetrable walls of] houses;
They shut themselves up by day;
They do not know the light [of day].

“And if this is not so, who can prove me a liar
And make my speech worthless?”

“Is there any number to His [vast celestial] armies?
And upon whom does His light not rise?

“Behold, even the moon has no brightness [compared to God’s majesty and glory]
And the stars are not pure in His sight,

“He wraps the waters in His clouds [which otherwise would spill on earth all at once],
And the cloud does not burst under them.

My lips will not speak unjustly,
Nor will my tongue utter deceit.

“Far be it from me that I should admit you are right [in your accusations against me];
Until I die, I will not remove my integrity from me.

“I hold fast my uprightness and my right standing with God and I will not let them go;
My heart does not reproach me for any of my days.

“I will teach you regarding the hand (power) of God;
I will not conceal what is with the Almighty [God’s actual treatment of the wicked].

“Though his children are many, they are destined for the sword;
And his descendants will not have sufficient bread.

“He lies down rich, but never will again;
He opens his eyes, and it is gone.

“Terrors overtake him like a [suddenly rising] flood;
A windstorm steals him away in the night.

“The path [deep within] no bird of prey knows,
And the falcon’s eye has not caught sight of it.

“The proud beasts [and their young] have not walked on it,
Nor has the fierce lion passed over it.

“Man dams up the streams from flowing [so that they do not trickle into the mine],
And what is hidden he brings out to the light.

“Man does not know the value of it;
Nor is it found in the land of the living.

“The deep says, ‘It is not in me’;
And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’

“I was a father to the needy;
I investigated the case I did not know [and assured justice].

‘My root is spread out and open to the waters,
And the dew lies all night upon my branch.

“After I spoke, they did not speak again,
And my speech dropped upon them [like a refreshing shower].

“I smiled at them when they did not believe,
And they did not diminish the light of my face.

“They hate me, they stand aloof from me,
And do not refrain from spitting in my face.

“My bones are pierced [with aching] in the night season,
And the pains that gnaw me take no rest.

“I cry to You for help, [Lord,] but You do not answer me;
I stand up, but You [only] gaze [indifferently] at me.

“However, does not one falling in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand?
Or in his disaster [will he not] therefore cry out for help?

“Did I not weep for one whose life was hard and filled with trouble?
Was not my heart grieved for the needy?

“I am seething within and my heart is troubled and cannot rest;
Days of affliction come to meet me.

“I go about mourning without comfort [my skin blackened by disease, not by the heat of the sun];
I stand up in the assembly and cry out for help.

“Does not tragedy fall [justly] on the unjust
And disaster to those who work wickedness?

“Does not God see my ways
And count all my steps?

“Did not He who made me in the womb make my servant,
And did not the same One fashion us both in the womb?

Or have eaten my morsel [of food] alone,
And did not share it with the orphan

If his loins have not thanked and blessed me [for clothing them],
And if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,

“For tragedy from God is a terror to me,
And because of His majesty and exaltation I can do nothing [nor endure facing Him].

“I assure you, the men of my tent have said,
‘Who can find one [in need] who has not been satisfied with his meat’?

“The stranger has not lodged in the street,
Because I have opened my door to the traveler.

Because I feared the great multitude,
And the contempt of families terrified me,
So that I kept silence and did not acknowledge my sin and did not go out of the door?