They make night into day, [saying], 'Light [is] {near to darkness}.'

Will they go down [to] the bars of Sheol? Or shall we descend together into the dust?"

"Sudden terrors terrify him all around, and they chase him at his heels.

"They thrust him from light into darkness, and they drive him out from [the] world.

Little boys also despise me; [when] I rise, then they talk against me.

"{O that} my words could be written down! {O that they could be inscribed in a scroll}!

[That] with a pen of iron and [with] lead they might be engraved on a rock forever!

He will fly away like a dream, and they will not find him, and he will be chased away like a vision of [the] night.

They send out their little ones like the flock, and their children dance around.

They {sing} to [the] tambourine and lyre, and they rejoice to [the] sound of [the] long flute.

They spend their days in prosperity, and in peace they go down to Sheol.

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

[How often] are they like straw {before} the wind, and like chaff that [the] storm carries away?

They lie down together in [the] dust, and maggots cover them.

[The] clods of [the] valley are sweet to him; everyone will follow after him, and {before} him {they are innumerable}.

[The] righteous see, and they rejoice, but [the] innocent [one] mocks at them.

When they are humiliated, {you say}, '[It is] pride,' for he saves {the humble}.

They remove border [stones]; they seize flocks, and they pasture [them].

They drive away [the] donkey of orphans; they take [the] widow's ox as a pledge.

They thrust [the] poor off the road; [the] needy of [the] earth hide themselves together.

"Look, [like] wild donkeys in the desert they go out to their labor [as] searchers for the prey; [the] wilderness [is] {their} food for the young.

They reap their fodder in the field, and they glean [in the] vineyard of [the] wicked.

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

They are wet from the rainstorm of the mountains, and they cling to the rock {without} refuge.

"They snatch [the] orphan from [the] breast, and they take a pledge against [the] needy.

They go about naked, without clothing, and hungry, they carry [the] sheaves.

Between their terraces they press out oil; they tread [the] presses, but they are thirsty.

"Those are among [the ones] rebelling [against the] light; they do not recognize his ways, and they do not stay in his paths.

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.

They are exalted a little while, then {they are gone}. And they are brought low; they are cut off like all [others], and like [the] heads of grain they wither away.

"[The] pillars of heaven tremble, and they are astounded at his rebuke.

"This [is the] portion of [the] wicked human being with God, and they receive from Shaddai [the] inheritance of [the] ruthless.

He breaks open a mine shaft {away from where people dwell}; [those] who are forgotten {by travelers}, they dangle, they sway [far away] from human beings.

Officials refrained from talking, and they laid [their] hand on their mouth.

"They listened to me and waited, and they kept silent for my counsel.

After my word, they did not speak again, and my word dropped down [like dew] upon them.

And they waited for me as [for] the rain, and they opened their mouth wide [as] for [the] spring rain.

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

Through want and through barren hunger they are gnawing [in the] dry region [in the] darkness of desolation and waste.

They are picking salt herbs, the leaves of bushes, and [the] roots of broom trees to warm themselves.

They were driven out from fellow people; they shout at them as [at] a thief,

{so that they dwell} [in] holes of [the] ground and [in the] rocks.

They bray among [the] bushes; they are gathered under [the] nettles.

{A senseless crowd}, yes, {a disreputable brood}, they were cast out from the land.

They abhor me; they keep aloof from me, and they do not withhold spit from my face

because he has loosened his bowstring and humbled me, and they have thrown off restraint {in my presence}.

On [the] right hand the brood rises up; {they put me to flight}, and they build up their {siege ramps} against me.

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

As [through] a wide breach they come; amid a crash they rush on.

My bowels are in turmoil, and they are not still; days of misery come to confront me.

and {he became angry} at his three friends because they had not found an answer, and they had declared Job guilty.

Thus Elihu had waited for Job {to speak} because {they were older than he}.

"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.

[In] a moment they die, and [in] the middle of [the] night [the] people are shaken, and they pass away, and they take away [the] mighty {effortlessly}.

Therefore he knows their works, and he overturns [them] [in the] night {so that} they are crushed.

because they have turned aside from him and have not understood any of his ways,

so that [they] cause [the] cry of distress from [the] helpless to come to him, and he hears [the] cry of distress from [the] needy,

"Because of [the] multitude of oppressions, they cry out; they cry for help because of [the] arm of [the] mighty.

There they cry out, but he does not answer {because of the pride of evildoers}.

He does not withdraw his eyes from [the] righteous, but he sets them forever with kings on the throne, and they are exalted.

"And if [they] are tied up with fetters, [if] they are caught in [the] cords of misery,

then he declares their work to them, and their transgressions, that they are behaving arrogantly.

So he opens their ear to the discipline, and he commands that they return from mischief.

If they listen and serve [him], they complete their days in prosperity and their years in pleasantness.

But if they do not listen, they perish by [the] sword, and they pass away without knowledge.

And [the] godless of heart cherish anger; they do not cry for help when he binds them.

{They die in their youth}, and their life [ends] among the male shrine prostitutes.

which [the] clouds pour down; they shower abundantly on human beings.

And {they} turn around by his guidance to accomplish all that he has commanded them on [the] face of {the habitable world}.

So then, they do not look at the light [when it is] bright in the skies, when [the] wind has passed and has cleansed them.

Therefore people revered him; he does not regard any {who think that they are wise}."

It is changed like clay [under] a seal, and they appear like a garment.

Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go? And will they say to you, 'Here we are'?

when they are crouched in the dens, [when] they lie in the thicket in an ambush?

Who prepares for the crow its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, [and] they wander around {for lack of food}?

Can you number [the] months they fulfill, and do you know [the] time of its giving birth?

When they crouch, they bring forth their young ones; they get rid of their labor pains.

Their young ones grow strong; they grow up in the open; they go forth and do not return to them.

"[The] wings of [the] female ostrich flap-- [are they] [the] pinions of [the] stork or [the] falcon?

It deals cruelly with its young ones, as [if] [they were] not its [own], as [if] without fear [that] its labor [were] in vain,

They paw in the valley, and it exults with strength; it goes out to meet [the] battle.

And its young ones lick blood greedily, and where [the] dead carcasses [are], there they [are]."

Look at all [the] proud, humble them, and tread down [the] wicked {where they stand}.

Will guildsmen bargain over it? Will they divide it between tradesmen?

They are close {to one another}-- even [the] air cannot come between them.

They are joined {one to another}; they cling together and cannot be separated.

{When it raises itself}, [the] mighty ones are terrified; they retreat because of its thrashing.

So all his brothers and all his sisters and all [those who] had known him {before} came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house and showed sympathy to him and comforted him for all the disaster that Yahweh had brought upon him. Then each one gave to him one piece of money, and each one [gave to him] one ornamental ring of gold.

Not so the wicked. Instead, [they are] like the chaff that [the] wind scatters.

For there is not [anything] reliable in his mouth; their inner part [is] destruction. Their throat is an open grave; [with] their tongue they speak deceit.

Treat them as guilty, O God; let them fall because of their plans. Because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out, for they have rebelled against you.

All my enemies shall be ashamed and shall be very terrified. They shall turn back; they shall suddenly be ashamed.

When my enemies turn back, they will stumble and perish because of your presence.

[The] nations have fallen in [the] pit [that] they made; their foot is caught in [the] net that they hid.

O Yahweh, put them in fear. Let [the] nations know they [are merely] human. Selah

In arrogance [the] wicked persecutes [the] poor. Let them be caught in [the] schemes that they devised,

For look: The wicked {string the bow}. They have fitted their arrow to [the] string, to shoot from [the] darkness at the upright of heart.

Yahweh [is] in his holy temple; Yahweh [is] in the heavens [on] his throne. His eyelids see; they test [the] children of humankind.