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

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

[Saying], Surely those who rose up against us are cut off, and the remnant of them, the fire has consumed.

Then thou shall lay up gold as dust, and [the gold of] Ophir as the stones of the brooks.

When they cast [thee] down, thou shall say, [There is] lifting up, and he will save the humble man.

He will deliver [even] him who is not innocent. Yea, he shall be delivered through the cleanness of thy hands.

Even today my complaint is rebellious. 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 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? And what his soul desires, even that he does.

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

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

The murderer rises with the light. He kills the poor and needy. And in the night he is as a thief.

For the morning is to all of them as thick darkness. For they know the terrors of the thick darkness.

Swiftly they [pass away] upon the face of the waters. Their portion is cursed in the earth. They do not turn into the way of the vineyards.

The womb shall forget him. The worm shall feed sweetly on him. He shall be no more remembered. And unrighteousness shall be broken as a tree.

They are exalted. Yet a little while, and they are gone. Yea, they are brought low. They are taken out of the way as all others, and are cut off as the tops of the ears of grain.

Is there any number of his armies? And upon whom does his light not arise?

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

How much less man, who is a worm! And the son of man, who is a worm!

How thou have helped him who is without power! How thou have saved the arm that has no strength!

To whom have thou uttered words? And whose spirit came forth from thee?

Sheol is naked before [God], and Abaddon has no covering.

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

As God lives, who has taken away my right, and the Almighty, who has vexed my soul.

(For my life is yet whole in me. And the spirit of God is in my nostrils.)

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

Let my enemy be as the wicked, and let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous.

For what is the hope of the profane, though he gets him gain, when God takes away his soul?

I will teach you concerning the hand of God. That which is with the Almighty I will not conceal.

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

If his sons be multiplied, it is for the sword. And his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.

Though he heaps up silver as the dust, and prepares raiment as the clay,

He builds his house as the moth, and as a booth which the keeper makes.

He lays down rich, but he shall not be gathered [to his fathers]. He opens his eyes, and he is not.

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

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

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

He binds the streams that they not trickle. And the thing that is hid he brings forth to light.

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 with me.

No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal. Yea, the price of wisdom is above rubies.

Where then does wisdom come from? And where is the place of understanding?

Since it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept closed from the birds of the heavens.

And to man he said, Behold, the fear of LORD, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding.

O that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me,

as I was in the ripeness of my days, when the friendship of God was upon my tent,

I put on righteousness, and it clothed me. My justice 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.

My root is spread out to the waters, and the dew lays all night upon my branch.

My glory is fresh in me, and my bow is renewed in my hand.

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 [as] chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as a man who comforts the mourners.

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

Yea, the strength of their hands, to what should it profit me? Men in whom ripe age is perished.

They are driven forth from the midst [of men]. They cry out after them as after a thief,

As through a wide breach they come. In the midst of the ruin they roll themselves [upon me].

Terrors are turned upon me. They chase my honor as the wind, and my welfare is passed away as a cloud.

And now my soul is poured out within me. Days of affliction have taken hold upon me.

By the great force my garment is disfigured. It binds me about as the collar of my coat.

My heart is troubled, and does not rest. Days of affliction have come upon me.

My skin is black, [and falls] from me. And my bones are burned with heat.

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

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

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

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

Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?

(no, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, and her I have guided from my mother's womb);

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

(this also is an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have denied the God that is above);

O that I had someone to hear me (Lo, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me), and [that I had] the indictment which my adversary has written!

Surely I would carry it upon my shoulder. I would bind it to me as a crown.

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

But there is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives them understanding.

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

Behold, my breast is as wine which has no vent. Like new wine-skins it is ready to burst.

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

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

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

He also is chastened with pain upon his bed, and with continual strife in his bones,

His flesh is consumed away that it cannot be seen. And his bones that were not seen stick out.

If there be with him a [heavenly] agent, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show to man what is right for him,

then [God] is gracious to him, and says, Deliver him from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom.

He prays to God, and he is favorable to him, so that he sees his face with joy, and he restores to man his righteousness.

Hear my words, ye wise men, and give ear to me, ye who have knowledge.

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.

Notwithstanding my right I am [accounted] a liar. My wound is incurable, [though I am] without transgression.

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

For thou should not say, There shall be no visitation to a man, [whereas] visitation [is] to him from LORD.

Behold thou him who hates lawlessness, and who destroys evil men, who is forever righteousness,

There is no darkness, nor thick gloom where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.

He strikes them as wicked men in the open sight of others

When he gives quietness, who then can condemn? And when he hides his face, who then can behold him? [It is] the same whether to a nation, or to a man,

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

Men of understanding will say to me, yes, every wise man who hears me,

so that we may not add to our sins, and lawlessness will be reckoned against us, speaking many words before LORD.

What [is] this thou think in judgment? Who are thou that thou said, I am righteousness before LORD?

Thy wickedness [is] a man as thou are, and thy righteousness [is] a son of man.