He shakes the earth from its place
so that its pillars tremble.

Let Him take His rod away from me
so His terror will no longer frighten me.

even though You know that I am not wicked
and that there is no one who can deliver from Your hand?

I wish I had never existed
but had been carried from the womb to the grave.

then you will hold your head high, free from fault.
You will be firmly established and unafraid.

He reveals mysteries from the darkness
and brings the deepest darkness into the light.

Only grant these two things to me, God,
so that I will not have to hide from Your presence:

remove Your hand from me,
and do not let Your terror frighten me.

Who can produce something pure from what is impure?
No one!

look away from him and let him rest
so that he can enjoy his day like a hired hand.

As water disappears from the sea
and a river becomes parched and dry,

so man lies down never to rise again.
They will not wake up until the heavens are no more;
they will not stir from their sleep.

But as a mountain collapses and crumbles
and a rock is dislodged from its place,

as water wears away stones
and torrents wash away the soil from the land,
so You destroy a man’s hope.

He doesn’t believe he will return from darkness;
he is destined for the sword.

He will not escape from the darkness;
flames will wither his shoots,
and by the breath of God’s mouth, he will depart.

Instead, I would encourage you with my mouth,
and the consolation from my lips would bring relief.

although my hands are free from violence
and my prayer is pure.

My eyes have grown dim from grief,
and my whole body has become but a shadow.

You who tear yourself in anger—
should the earth be abandoned on your account,
or a rock be removed from its place?

He is ripped from the security of his tent
and marched away to the king of terrors.

All memory of him perishes from the earth;
he has no name anywhere.

He is driven from light to darkness
and chased from the inhabited world.

He has stripped me of my honor
and removed the crown from my head.

He has removed my brothers from me;
my acquaintances have abandoned me.

Don’t you know that ever since antiquity,
from the time man was placed on earth,

His children will beg from the poor,
for his own hands must give back his wealth.

He swallows wealth but must vomit it up;
God will force it from his stomach.

He must return the fruit of his labor without consuming it;
he doesn’t enjoy the profits from his trading.

If he flees from an iron weapon,
an arrow from a bronze bow will pierce him.

This is the wicked man’s lot from God,
the inheritance God ordained for him.

Their homes are secure and free of fear;
no rod from God strikes them.

But their prosperity is not of their own doing.
The counsel of the wicked is far from me!

Let his own eyes see his demise;
let him drink from the Almighty’s wrath!

Indeed, the evil man is spared from the day of disaster,
rescued from the day of wrath.

For you took collateral from your brothers without cause,
stripping off their clothes and leaving them naked.

You gave no water to the thirsty
and withheld food from the famished,

But it was He who filled their houses with good things.
The counsel of the wicked is far from me!

Receive instruction from His mouth,
and place His sayings in your heart.

If you return to the Almighty, you will be renewed.
If you banish injustice from your tent

Then an upright man could reason with Him,
and I would escape from my Judge forever.

I have not departed from the commands of His lips;
I have treasured the words of His mouth
more than my daily food.

The fatherless infant is snatched from the breast;
the nursing child of the poor is seized as collateral.

From the city, men groan;
the mortally wounded cry for help,
yet God pays no attention to this crime.

as long as my breath is still in me
and the breath from God remains in my nostrils,

This is a wicked man’s lot from God,
the inheritance the ruthless receive from the Almighty.

An east wind picks him up, and he is gone;
it carries him away from his place.

It blasts at him without mercy,
while he flees desperately from its grasp.

It claps its hands at him
and scorns him from its place.

Iron is taken from the ground,
and copper is smelted from ore.

He cuts a shaft far from human habitation,
in places unknown to those who walk above ground.
Suspended far away from people,
the miners swing back and forth.

Food may come from the earth,
but below the surface the earth is transformed as by fire.

He dams up the streams from flowing
so that he may bring to light what is hidden.

Topaz from Cush cannot compare with it,
and it cannot be valued in pure gold.

Where then does wisdom come from,
and where is understanding located?

It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing
and concealed from the birds of the sky.

He said to mankind,
“The fear of the Lord is this: wisdom.
And to turn from evil is understanding.”

I shattered the fangs of the unjust
and snatched the prey from his teeth.

After a word from me they did not speak again;
my speech settled on them like dew.

Emaciated from poverty and hunger,
they gnawed the dry land,
the desolate wasteland by night.

They were expelled from human society;
people shouted at them as if they were thieves.

They despise me and keep their distance from me;
they do not hesitate to spit in my face.

For what portion would I have from God above,
or what inheritance from the Almighty on high?

If my step has turned from the way,
my heart has followed my eyes,
or impurity has stained my hands,

for from my youth, I raised him as his father,
and since the day I was born I guided the widow—

if he did not bless me
while warming himself with the fleece from my sheep,

then let my shoulder blade fall from my back,
and my arm be pulled from its socket.

For disaster from God terrifies me,
and because of His majesty I could not do these things.

Then Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite from the family of Ram became angry. He was angry at Job because he had justified himself rather than God.

My words come from my upright heart,
and my lips speak with sincerity what they know.

I am just like you before God;
I was also pinched off from a piece of clay.

in order to turn a person from his actions
and suppress his pride.

God spares his soul from the Pit,
his life from crossing the river of death.

and to be gracious to him and say,
“Spare him from going down to the Pit;
I have found a ransom,”

He redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit,
and I will continue to see the light.”

in order to turn him back from the Pit,
so he may shine with the light of life.

because they turned aside from following Him
and did not understand any of His ways

If you are righteous, what do you give Him,
or what does He receive from your hand?

People cry out because of severe oppression;
they shout for help because of the arm of the mighty.

I will get my knowledge from a distant place
and ascribe justice to my Maker.

He does not remove His gaze from the righteous,
but He seats them forever with enthroned kings,
and they are exalted.

He opens their ears to correction
and insists they repent from iniquity.

Indeed, He lured you from the jaws of distress
to a spacious and unconfined place.
Your table was spread with choice food.

Can your wealth or all your physical exertion
keep you from distress?

Do not long for the night
when nations will disappear from their places.

All mankind has seen it;
people have looked at it from a distance.

Can anyone understand how the clouds spread out
or how the thunder roars from God’s pavilion?

My heart pounds at this
and leaps from my chest.

Just listen to His thunderous voice
and the rumbling that comes from His mouth.

The windstorm comes from its chamber,
and the cold from the driving north winds.

Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind. He said:

Who enclosed the sea behind doors
when it burst from the womb,

Light is withheld from the wicked,
and the arm raised in violence is broken.

Whose womb did the ice come from?
Who gave birth to the frost of heaven

Who set the wild donkey free?
Who released the swift donkey from its harness?

He laughs at fear, since he is afraid of nothing;
he does not run from the sword.

When the trumpet blasts, he snorts defiantly.
He smells the battle from a distance;
he hears the officers’ shouts and the battle cry.

From there it searches for prey;
its eyes penetrate the distance.

Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind:

Flaming torches shoot from his mouth;
fiery sparks fly out!