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

This is the portion of a wicked man from God, the heritage appointed to him by God."

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

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

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

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

What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What profit should we have, if we pray to him?'

Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand. The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

"How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out, that their calamity comes on them, that God distributes sorrows in his anger?

How often is it that they are as stubble before the wind, as chaff that the storm carries away?

For what does he care for his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off?

His pails are full of milk. The marrow of his bones is moistened.

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

that the evil man is reserved to the day of calamity, That they are led forth to the day of wrath?

The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him. All men shall draw after him, as there were innumerable before him.

"Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.

Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that you are righteous? Or does it benefit him, that you make your ways perfect?

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

Isn't your wickedness great? Neither is there any end to your iniquities.

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

who were snatched away before their time, whose foundation was poured out as a stream,

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. The fire has consumed the remnant of them.'

He will even deliver him who is not innocent. Yes, he shall be delivered through the cleanness of your hands."

"Even today my complaint is rebellious. His hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.

"If I go east, he is not there; if west, I can't find him;

For he performs that which is appointed for me. 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 children.

The murderer rises with the light. He kills the poor and needy. In the night he is like a thief.

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

"They are foam on the surface of the waters. Their portion is cursed in the earth. They don't 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. Unrighteousness shall be broken as a tree.

They are exalted; yet a little while, and they are gone. Yes, 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.

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

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

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

To whom have you uttered words? Whose spirit came forth from you?

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

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

"As God lives, who has taken away my right, the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter.

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

I hold fast to 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. Let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous.

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

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

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

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

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

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

He lies down rich, but he shall not do so again. He opens his eyes, and he is not.

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.

Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is smelted out of the ore.

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

He binds the streams that they don't trickle. The thing that is hidden he brings forth to light.

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

Man doesn't know its price; Neither is it found in the land of the living.

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

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

Seeing it is hidden from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the birds of the sky.

To man he said, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. To depart from evil is understanding.'"

"Oh 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 in 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 own house, I shall number my days as the sand.

My root is spread out to the waters. The dew lies all night on my branch.

My glory is fresh in me. My bow is renewed in my hand.'

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

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

"But now those who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs.

Of what use is the strength of their hands to me, men in whom ripe age has perished?

They are driven out from the midst of men. They cry after them as after a thief;

As through a wide breach they come, in the midst of the ruin they roll themselves in.

Terrors have turned on me. They chase my honor as the wind. My welfare has passed away as a cloud.

"Now my soul is poured out within me. Days of affliction have taken hold on me.

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

My heart is troubled, and doesn't rest. Days of affliction have come on me.

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

Didn't he who made me in the womb make him? Didn't one fashion us in the womb?

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

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.

oh that I had one to hear me! (behold, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me); let the accuser write my indictment!

Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; and I would bind it to me as a crown.

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

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 wineskins it is ready to burst.

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

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

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

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

His flesh is so consumed away, that it can't be seen. His bones that were not seen stick out.

"If there is beside him an angel, 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. He restores to man his righteousness.

"Hear my words, you wise men. Give ear to me, you who have knowledge.