For he is not a human being like I am, that I might answer him, that we might come together in judgment.

Then would I speak and not fear him, but it is not so with me.

Is it good for you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands, while you smile on the schemes of the wicked?

For you have said, 'My teaching is flawless, and I am pure in your sight.'

and reveal to you the secrets of wisdom -- for true wisdom has two sides -- so that you would know that God has forgiven some of your sins.

For he knows deceitful men; when he sees evil, will he not consider it?

"As for you, if you prove faithful, and if you stretch out your hands toward him,

if iniquity is in your hand -- put it far away, and do not let evil reside in your tents.

For then you will lift up your face without blemish; you will be securely established and will not fear.

For you will forget your trouble; you will remember it like water that has flowed away.

For calamity, there is derision (according to the ideas of the fortunate) -- a fate for those whose feet slip!

If only you would keep completely silent! For you, that would be wisdom.

Will you speak wickedly on God's behalf? Will you speak deceitfully for him?

Will you show him partiality? Will you argue the case for God?

Would not his splendor terrify you and the fear he inspires fall on you?

Moreover, this will become my deliverance, for no godless person would come before him.

Remove your hand far from me and stop making me afraid with your terror.

For you write down bitter things against me and cause me to inherit the sins of my youth.

Do you fix your eye on such a one? And do you bring me before you for judgment?

"But there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail.

You will call and I -- I will answer you; you will long for the creature you have made.

You overpower him once for all, and he departs; you change his appearance and send him away.

Only his flesh has pain for himself, and he mourns for himself."

The gray-haired and the aged are on our side, men far older than your father.

Are God's consolations too trivial for you; or a word spoken in gentleness to you?

All his days the wicked man suffers torment, throughout the number of the years that are stored up for the tyrant.

He does not expect to escape from darkness; he is marked for the sword;

he wanders about -- food for vultures; he knows that the day of darkness is at hand.

for he stretches out his hand against God, and vaunts himself against the Almighty,

Let him not trust in what is worthless, deceiving himself; for worthlessness will be his reward.

For the company of the godless is barren, and fire consumes the tents of those who accept bribes.

"O earth, do not cover my blood, nor let there be a secret place for my cry.

and he contends with God on behalf of man as a man pleads for his friend.

For the years that lie ahead are few, and then I will go on the way of no return.

Make then my pledge with you. Who else will put up security for me?

If a man denounces his friends for personal gain, the eyes of his children will fail.

If I hope for the grave to be my home, if I spread out my bed in darkness,

You who tear yourself to pieces in your anger, will the earth be abandoned for your sake? Or will a rock be moved from its place?

"Yes, the lamp of the wicked is extinguished; his flame of fire does not shine.

For he has been thrown into a net by his feet and he wanders into a mesh.

A rope is hidden for him on the ground and a trap for him lies on the path.

Calamity is hungry for him, and misfortune is ready at his side.

Fire resides in his tent; over his residence burning sulfur is scattered.

"If I cry out, 'Violence!' I receive no answer; I cry for help, but there is no justice.

"He has put my relatives far from me; my acquaintances only turn away from me.

Have pity on me, my friends, have pity on me, for the hand of God has struck me.

As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that as the last he will stand upon the earth.

whom I will see for myself, and whom my own eyes will behold, and not another. My heart grows faint within me.

Fear the sword yourselves, for wrath brings the punishment by the sword, so that you may know that there is judgment."

if he retains it for himself and does not let it go, and holds it fast in his mouth,

For he has oppressed the poor and abandoned them; he has seized a house which he did not build.

For he knows no satisfaction in his appetite; he does not let anything he desires escape.

"Nothing is left for him to devour; that is why his prosperity does not last.

Total darkness waits to receive his treasures; a fire which has not been kindled will consume him and devour what is left in his tent.

For, when I think about this, I am terrified and my body feels a shudder.

Their houses are safe and without fear; and no rod of punishment from God is upon them.

But their prosperity is not their own doing. The counsel of the wicked is far from me!

You may say, 'God stores up a man's punishment for his children!' Instead let him repay the man himself so that he may know it!

For what is his interest in his home after his death, when the number of his months has been broken off?

For you say, 'Where now is the nobleman's house, and where are the tents in which the wicked lived?'

No one denounces his conduct to his face; no one repays him for what he has done.

"For you took pledges from your brothers for no reason, and you stripped the clothing from the naked.

That is why snares surround you, and why sudden fear terrifies you,

Thick clouds are a veil for him, so he does not see us, as he goes back and forth in the vault of heaven.'

But it was he who filled their houses with good things -- yet the counsel of the wicked was far from me.

Surely our enemies are destroyed, and fire consumes their wealth.'

If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up; if you remove wicked behavior far from your tent,

then the Almighty himself will be your gold, and the choicest silver for you.

Whatever you decide on a matter, it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways.

For he fulfills his decree against me, and many such things are his plans.

Like wild donkeys in the desert they go out to their labor, seeking diligently for food; the wasteland provides food for them and for their children.

From the city the dying groan, and the wounded cry out for help, but God charges no one with wrongdoing.

And the eye of the adulterer watches for the twilight, thinking, 'No eye can see me,' and covers his face with a mask.

For all of them, the morning is to them like deep darkness; they are friends with the terrors of darkness.

They are exalted for a little while, and then they are gone, they are brought low like all others, and gathered in, and like a head of grain they are cut off.'

If even the moon is not bright, and the stars are not pure as far as he is concerned,

By his breath the skies became fair; his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.

for while my spirit is still in me, and the breath from God is in my nostrils,

I will maintain my righteousness and never let it go; my conscience will not reproach me for as long as I live.

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

If his children increase -- it is for the sword! His offspring never have enough to eat.

Those who survive him are buried by the plague, and their widows do not mourn for them.

"Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined.

Man puts an end to the darkness; he searches the farthest recesses for the ore in the deepest darkness.

Far from where people live he sinks a shaft, in places travelers have long forgotten, far from other people he dangles and sways.

The earth, from which food comes, is overturned below as though by fire;

Fine gold cannot be given in exchange for it, nor can its price be weighed out in silver.

It cannot be measured out for purchase with the gold of Ophir, with precious onyx or sapphires.

For it has been hidden from the eyes of every living creature, and from the birds of the sky it has been concealed.

For he looks to the ends of the earth and observes everything under the heavens.

When he imposed a limit for the rain, and a path for the thunderstorm,

And he said to mankind, 'The fear of the Lord -- that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.'"

when my steps were bathed with butter and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil!

for I rescued the poor who cried out for help, and the orphan who had no one to assist him;

I was eyes for the blind and feet for the lame;

"People listened to me and waited silently; they kept silent for my advice.

They waited for me as people wait for the rain, and they opened their mouths as for the spring rains.

I chose the way for them and sat as their chief; I lived like a king among his troops; I was like one who comforts mourners.

I know that you are bringing me to death, to the meeting place for all the living.

"Surely one does not stretch out his hand against a broken man when he cries for help in his distress.