For you write bitter things against me, and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth:

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

For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty.

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

the wicked man writhes in pain all his days, even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.

He doesn't believe that he shall return out of darkness. He is waited for by the sword.

He wanders abroad for bread, saying, 'Where is it?' He knows that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.

Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself; for emptiness shall be his reward.

For the company of the godless shall be barren, and fire shall consume the tents of bribery.

I was at ease, and he broke me apart. Yes, he has taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces. He has also set me up for his target.

Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven. He who vouches for me is on high.

For when a few years are come, I shall go the way from whence I shall not return.

"My spirit is consumed. My days are extinct, And the grave is ready for me.

"Now give a pledge, be collateral for me with yourself. Who is there who will strike hands with me?

For you have hidden their heart from understanding, Therefore you shall not exalt them.

He who denounces his friends for a prey, Even the eyes of his children shall fail.

But as for you all, come on now again; I shall not find a wise man among you.

If I look for Sheol as my house, if I have spread my couch in the darkness,

where then is my hope? As for my hope, who shall see it?

"How long will you hunt for words? Consider, and afterwards we will speak.

You who tear yourself in your anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you? Or shall the rock be removed out of its place?

For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he wanders into its mesh.

A noose is hidden for him in the ground, a trap for him in the way.

Those who dwell in my house, and my maids, count me for a stranger. I am a foreigner in their sight.

"Have pity on me, have pity on me, you my friends; for the hand of God has touched me.

But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, he will stand upon the earth.

be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishments of the sword, that you may know there is a judgment."

that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless but for a moment?

That for which he labored he shall restore, and shall not swallow it down. According to the substance that he has gotten, he shall not rejoice.

For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor. He has violently taken away a house, and he shall not build it up.

All darkness is laid up for his treasures. An unfanned fire shall devour him. It shall consume that which is left in his tent.

As for me, is my complaint to man? Why shouldn't I be impatient?

They tell God, 'Depart from us, for we do not want to know about your ways.

You say, 'God lays up his iniquity for his children.' 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?

For you say, 'Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?'

Is it for your piety that he reproves you, that he enters with you into judgment?

For you have taken pledges from your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing.

But as for the mighty man, he had the earth. The honorable man, he lived in it.

who said to God, 'Depart from us;' and, 'What can Shaddai do for us?'

For then you will delight yourself in Shaddai, and shall lift up your face to God.

You shall also decree a thing, and it shall be established for you, and light shall shine on your ways.

For he performs that which is appointed for me. Many such things are with him.

For God has made my heart faint. Shaddai has terrified me.

They drive away the donkey of the fatherless, and they take the widow's ox for a pledge.

Behold, as wild donkeys in the desert, they go forth to their work, seeking diligently for food. The wilderness yields them bread for their children.

They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for lack of a shelter.

The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, 'No eye shall see me.' He disguises his face.

For the morning is to all of them like thick darkness, for they know the terrors of the thick darkness.

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

For what is the hope of the godless, when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?

If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword. His offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.

For it hurls at him, and does not spare, as he flees away from his hand.

"Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place for gold which they refine.

As for the earth, out of it comes bread; Underneath it is turned up as it were by fire.

It can't be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for its price.

Gold and glass can't equal it, neither shall it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.

For he looks to the ends of the earth, and sees under the whole sky.

When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder;

when my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured out streams of oil for me,

For when the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it commended me:

the blessing of him who was ready to perish came on me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.

"Men listened to me, waited, and kept silence for my counsel.

They waited for me as for the rain. Their mouths drank as with the spring rain.

For he has untied his cord, and afflicted me; and they have thrown off restraint before me.

For I know that you will bring me to death, To the house appointed for all living.

"However doesn't one stretch out a hand in his fall? Or in his calamity therefore cry for help?

Did I not weep for him who was in trouble? Wasn't my soul grieved for the needy?

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

I go mourning without the sun. I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.

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

Is it not calamity for the unrighteous, and disaster for the workers of iniquity?

then let my wife grind for another, and let others sleep with her.

For that would be a heinous crime. Yes, it would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges:

For it is a fire that consumes to destruction, and would root out all my increase.

if I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or that the needy had no covering;

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

this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges; for I should have denied the God who is above.

"Behold, I waited for your words, and I listened for your reasoning, while you searched out what to say.

for he has not directed his words against me; neither will I answer him with your speeches.

For I am full of words. The spirit within me constrains me.

For I do not know how to give flattering titles; or else my Maker would soon take me away.

Behold, he finds occasions against me. He counts me for his enemy.

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

For God speaks once, yes twice, though man pays no attention.

"If there is beside him an angel, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show to man what is right for him;

If you have anything to say, answer me. Speak, for I desire to justify you.

For the ear tries words, as the palate tastes food.

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

For Job has said, 'I am righteous, God has taken away my right:

For he has said, 'It profits a man nothing that he should delight himself with God.'

For the work of a man he will render to him, and cause every man to find according to his ways.

Who doesn't respect the persons of princes, nor regards the rich more than the poor; for they all are the work of his hands.

"For his eyes are on the ways of a man. He sees all his goings.

For he doesn't need to consider a man further, that he should go before God in judgment.

"For has any said to God, 'I am guilty, but I will not offend any more.

Shall his recompense be as you desire, that you refuse it? For you must choose, and not I. Therefore speak what you know.

For he adds rebellion to his sin. He claps his hands among us, and multiplies his words against God."

"By reason of the multitude of oppressions they cry out. They cry for help by reason of the arm of the mighty.

How much less when you say you do not see him. The cause is before him, and you wait for him.