Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.

Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.

What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?

Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger.

They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.

For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst?

For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked?

That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.

The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him.

Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?

Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? or is it gain to him, that thou makest thy ways perfect?

Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite?

But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; and the honourable man dwelt in it.

Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are!

Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood:

Which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them?

Yet he filled their houses with good things: but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

Whereas our substance is not cut down, but the remnant of them the fire consumeth.

Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks.

When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person.

He shall deliver the island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands.

Even to day 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 perceive him:

But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.

For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.

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

Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children.

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

For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.

He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards.

The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.

He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life.

They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.

Is there any number of his armies? and upon whom doth not his light arise?

How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?

How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?

How hast thou helped him that is without power? how savest thou the arm that hath no strength?

How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdom? and how hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is?

To whom hast thou uttered words? and whose spirit came from thee?

Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering.

He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them.

Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?

As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul;

All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils;

My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.

Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous.

For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?

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

This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of oppressors, which they shall receive of the Almighty.

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

Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay;

He buildeth his house as a moth, and as a booth that the keeper maketh.

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

Terrors take hold on him as waters, a tempest stealeth him away in the night.

The east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth: and as a storm hurleth him out of his place.

Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold where they fine it.

Iron is taken out of the earth, and brass is molten out of the stone.

As for the earth, out of it cometh bread: and under it is turned up as it were fire.

There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen:

He bindeth the floods from overflowing; and the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light.

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

Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living.

The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me.

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

Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding?

Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air.

And unto 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 preserved me;

As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle;

I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem.

Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand.

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

I chose out their way, and sat chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as one that comforteth the mourners.

But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.

They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;)

They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.

Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.

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

By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.

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

My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.

For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high?

Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?

For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges.

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

Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?

(For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;)

This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.

If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:

Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book.

Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me.

I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him.

But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.

Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgment.

Behold, my belly is as wine which hath no vent; it is ready to burst like new bottles.

I am clean without transgression, I am innocent; neither is there iniquity in me.

Behold, in this thou art not just: I will answer thee, that God is greater than man.

He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain: