Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes.

Their houses are in peace, without fear; nor is the rod of God on them.

And they say to God, Depart from us; for we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways;

what is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? And what profit should we have if we pray to Him?

Behold, their good is not in their hand; the wisdom of the wicked is far from me.

How often is the lamp of the wicked put out, and their trouble comes on them! He shares out pains in His anger;

they are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm steals away.

For what is his pleasure in his house after him, and the number of his months is cut off?

For you say, Where is the house of the noble, and where the dwelling-places of the wicked?

that the wicked is kept for the day of calamity? They shall be brought to the day of wrath.

And the clods of the valley shall be sweet to him and every man shall draw after him, as there is no numbering of those before him.

Can a man be useful to God, as he who is wise may be useful to himself?

Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous, or gain to Him that you make your ways perfect?

Is not your wickedness great, and your iniquity without measure?

But as for the mighty man, he had the earth, and the honored man lived in it.

Is not God high in Heaven? And behold the leading stars, for they are high.

who said to God, Depart from us; and, What can the Almighty do to them?

Yet He filled their houses with substance; and the wisdom of the wicked is far from me.

Truly our foe is not cut down, and fire has eaten their wealth.

Even today is my complaint bitter; my stroke is heavier than my groaning.

Behold, I go forward, but He is not there; and backward, but I cannot see Him;

But He knows the way that I take; when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

But He is in one mind, and who can turn Him? Yea, what His soul desires, He does it.

They drive away the ass of the fatherless; they take the widow's ox for a pledge.

The murderer rising with the light kills the poor and needy, and in the night he is a thief.

For the morning is to them like the shadow of death; for they know the terrors of the shadow of death.

He is swift on the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth; he does not behold the way of the vineyards.

He also draws the mighty with his power; he rises up, and no one is sure of life.

And if it is not so, who will make me a liar, and make my speech worth nothing?

Is there any number of His armies? And on whom does not His light arise?

How then can man be justified with God? Or how can one who is born of a woman be clean?

how much less man who is a maggot, and the son of man, who is a worm?

How have you advised those not wise, or fully declared wise plans?

To whom have you spoken words? And whose spirit came from you?

Hell is naked before Him, and the Pit has no covering.

He binds up the waters in His thick clouds; and the cloud is not torn under them.

As God lives, He has taken away my judgment; and the Almighty has made my soul bitter.

As long as my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,

Let my enemy be like the wicked, and he who rises up against me as the perverse.

For what is the hope of the ungodly when He cuts off, when God takes away his soul?

I will teach you by the hand of God; that which is with the Almighty I will not hide.

This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the inheritance of cruel men which they shall receive from the Almighty.

If his sons are multiplied, the sword is for them; and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.

The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered. He opens his eyes, and he is not.

The east wind lifts him up, and he is gone; for it whirls him out of his place.

Surely there is a mine for the silver, and a place where they refine gold.

Iron is taken out of the earth, and bronze is melted out of the stone.

As to the earth, out of it comes bread; and underneath it is turned up like fire.

There is a path which no bird knows, nor has the vulture's eye caught sight of it;

But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?

Man does not know the price 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 in me.

Pure gold cannot be given in its stead, and silver be weighed as its price.

No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls; and the price of wisdom is above rubies.

From where then does wisdom come, and where is the place of understanding?

Yea, it is hidden from the eyes of all living, and hidden from the birds of the heavens.

And to man He said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom! And to depart from evil is understanding!

Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God watched over me;

as I was in the days of my harvest, when the secret of God was on my tent;

And they waited for me like the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.

I chose out their way, and sat as chief; and I lived like a king in the army, as one who comforts the mourners.

But now those younger laugh at me, whose fathers I would have refused to set with the dogs of my flock.

They are driven forth from the midst; they cried against them as a thief.

As through a wide break they came on; they roll under a ruin.

And now my soul is poured out within me; the days of affliction have taken hold on me.

By the great force of my disease my clothing is exposed; it binds me about like the mouth of my coat.

Did I not weep for him whose day was hard; and my soul grieved for the poor?

My skin is black on me, and my bones are burned with heat.

For what is the portion from God above? And what is the inheritance from the Almighty on high?

Is not disaster to the perverse, and calamity to the workers of iniquity?

For it is a fire that devours to the Place of Ruin, and it would root out all my gain.

Did not He who made me in the womb make him? And did not One shape us in the womb?

for from my youth he grew up with me, as with a father, and from my mother's womb I guided her;

For trouble from God is a terror to me, and I could not do anything because of His highness.

But a spirit is in man giving them perception, even the breath of the Almighty.

It is not the great that are wise, nor the aged who understand judgment.

Behold, my breast is as wine which has no vent; it bursts like new wineskins.

Behold, I am toward God even as you are; I also am formed out of the clay.

You said, I am pure, without transgression; I am innocent, and no iniquity is in me;

Behold, in this you are not right; I will answer you, for God is greater than man.

He is also chastened with pain on his bed, and enduring strife in his bones;

so that his life is sick of bread, and his soul desirable food.

If there is a messenger for him, a mediator, one among a thousand, to declare for man his uprightness,

then He is gracious to him and says, Deliver him from going down to the Pit; for I have found a ransom.

Hear my words, wise men; and give ear to me, you who have knowledge;

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

Let us choose for ourselves what is right; let us know among ourselves what is good.

What man is like Job, who drinks up scorning like water;

For he has said, It profits a man nothing when he is accepted with God.

Who has given the earth as a deposit with Him? Or who has set the whole world in order?

Shall one who hates right govern? And will you condemn Him who is just and mighty?

There is no darkness, nor shadow of death to hide there the workers of iniquity.

so as to cause the cry of the poor to come to Him, for He hears the cry of the afflicted.

Men of understanding will say to me, and a wise man who hears me will say,

For he adds rebellion to his sins; he claps his hands among us, and multiplies his words against God.

But none says, Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night;

who teaches us more than the animals of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?

How much less when you say you do not see Him! Judgment is before Him; you are waiting for Him.

For truly my words are not false; He who is perfect in knowledge is with you.

Behold, God is mighty, and does not despise; He is mighty in strength of heart.