I am broken down by him on every side, and I am gone; my hope is uprooted like a tree.

His wrath is burning against me, and I am to him as one of his haters.

His armies come on together, they make their road high against me, and put up their tents round mine.

He has taken my brothers far away from me; they have seen my fate and have become strange to me.

My relations and my near friends have given me up, and those living in my house have put me out of their minds.

I am strange to my women-servants, and seem to them as one from another country.

At my cry my servant gives me no answer, and I have to make a prayer to him.

My breath is strange to my wife, and I am disgusting to the offspring of my mother's body.

Even young children have no respect for me; when I get up their backs are turned on me.

All the men of my circle keep away from me; and those dear to me are turned against me.

My bones are joined to my skin, and I have got away with my flesh in my teeth.

Have pity on me, have pity on me, O my friends! for the hand of God is on me.

Why are you cruel to me, like God, for ever saying evil against me?

If only my words might be recorded! if they might be put in writing in a book!

But I am certain that he who will take up my cause is living, and that in time to come he will take his place on the dust;

And ... without my flesh I will see God;

Whom I will see on my side, and not as one strange to me. My heart is broken with desire.

Be in fear of the sword, for the sword is the punishment for such things, so that you may be certain that there is a judge.

For this cause my thoughts are troubling me and driving me on.

I have to give ear to arguments which put me to shame, and your answers to me are wind without wisdom.

He is forced to give back the fruit of his work, and may not take it for food; he has no joy in the profit of his trading.

He may go in flight from the iron spear, but the arrow from the bow of brass will go through him;

Give attention with care to my words; and let this be your comfort.

Let me say what is in my mind, and after that, go on making sport of me.

As for me, is my outcry against man? is it then to be wondered at if my spirit is troubled?

Take note of me and be full of wonder, put your hand on your mouth.

At the very thought of it my flesh is shaking with fear.

What is the Ruler of all, that we may give him worship? and what profit is it to us to make prayer to him?

Truly, is not their well-being in their power? (The purpose of the evil-doers is far from me.)

You say, God keeps punishment stored up for his children. Let him send it on the man himself, so that he may have the punishment of it!

See, I am conscious of your thoughts, and of your violent purposes against me;

Why then do you give me comfort with words in which there is no profit, when you see that there is nothing in your answers but deceit?

Though he made their houses full of good things: but the purpose of the evil-doers is far from me!

Even today my outcry is bitter; his hand is hard on my sorrow.

I would put my cause in order before him, and my mouth would be full of arguments

I would see what his answers would be, and have knowledge of what he would say to me.

Would he make use of his great power to overcome me? No, but he would give attention to me.

There an upright man might put his cause before him; and I would be free for ever from my judge.

My feet have gone in his steps; I have kept in his way, without turning to one side or to the other.

I have never gone against the orders of his lips; the words of his mouth have been stored up in my heart.

For what has been ordered for me by him will be gone through to the end: and his mind is full of such designs

For this cause I am in fear before him, my thoughts of him overcome me.

For God has made my heart feeble, and my mind is troubled before the Ruler of all.

For I am overcome by the dark, and by the black night which is covering my face.

He who is purposing death gets up before day, so that he may put to death the poor and those in need.

And the man whose desire is for the wife of another is waiting for the evening, saying, No eye will see me; and he puts a cover on his face. And in the night the thief goes about;

And if it is not so, now, who will make it clear that my words are false, and that what I say is of no value?

How then is it possible for man to be upright before God? or how may he be clean who is a son of woman?

By the life of God, who has taken away my right; and of the Ruler of all, who has made my soul bitter;

(For all my breath is still in me, and the spirit of God is my life;)

Truly, there is no deceit in my lips, and my tongue does not say what is false.

Let it be far from me! I will certainly not say that you are right! I will come to death before I give up my righteousness.

I will keep it safe, and will not let it go: my heart has nothing to say against any part of my life.

Let my hater be like the evil man, and let him who comes against me be as the sinner.

Though he may get silver together like dust, and make ready great stores of clothing;

He may get them ready, but the upright will put them on, and he who is free from sin will take the silver for a heritage.

But where may wisdom be seen? and where is the resting-place of knowledge?

The deep waters say, It is not in me: and the sea says, It is not with me.

Gold may not be given for it, or a weight of silver in payment for it.

It may not be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the onyx of great price, or the sapphire.

Gold and glass are not equal to it in price, and it may not be exchanged for jewels of the best gold.

The topaz of Ethiopia is not equal to it, and it may not be valued with the best gold.

If only I might again be as I was in the months which are past, in the days when God was watching over me!

When his light was shining over my head, and when I went through the dark by his light.

As I was in my flowering years, when my tent was covered by the hand of God;

While the Ruler of all was still with me, and my children were round me;

When my steps were washed with milk, and rivers of oil were flowing out of the rock for me.

When I went out of my door to go up to the town, and took my seat in the public place,

The young men saw me, and went away, and the old men got up from their seats;

For when it came to their ears, men said that I was truly happy; and when their eyes saw, they gave witness to me;

The blessing of him who was near to destruction came on me, and I put a song of joy into the widow's heart.

I put on righteousness as my clothing, and was full of it; right decisions were to me a robe and a head-dress.

I was a father to the poor, searching out the cause of him who was strange to me.

By me the great teeth of the evil-doer were broken, and I made him give up what he had violently taken away.

Then I said, I will come to my end with my children round me, my days will be as the sand in number;

My root will be open to the waters, and the night mist will be on my branches,

My glory will be ever new, and my bow will be readily bent in my hand.

Men gave ear to me, waiting and keeping quiet for my suggestions.

After I had said what was in my mind, they were quiet and let my words go deep into their hearts;

They were waiting for me as for the rain, opening their mouths wide as for the spring rains.

I was laughing at them when they had no hope, and the light of my face was never clouded by their fear.

I took my place as a chief, guiding them on their way, and I was as a king among his army. ...

But now those who are younger than I make sport of me; those whose fathers I would not have put with the dogs of my flocks.

Of what use is the strength of their hands to me? all force is gone from them.

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

For he has made loose the cord of my bow, and put me to shame; he has sent down my flag to the earth before me.

The lines of his men of war put themselves in order, and make high their ways of destruction against me:

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

Fears have come on me; my hope is gone like the wind, and my well-being like a cloud.

But now my soul is turned to water in me, days of trouble overtake me:

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

With great force he takes a grip of my clothing, pulling me by the neck of my coat.

Truly God has made me low, even to the earth, and I have become like dust.

You give no answer to my cry, and take no note of my prayer.

You have become cruel to me; the strength of your hand is hard on me.

Lifting me up, you make me go on the wings of the wind; I am broken up by the storm.

For I am certain that you will send me back to death, and to the meeting-place ordered for all living.

Has not my hand been stretched out in help to the poor? have I not been a saviour to him in his trouble?

Have I not been weeping for the crushed? and was not my soul sad for him who was in need?

My feelings are strongly moved, and give me no rest; days of trouble have overtaken me.