That is why I am terrified in his presence; when I consider, I am afraid because of him.

They drive away the orphan's donkey; they take the widow's ox as a pledge.

The fatherless child is snatched from the breast, the infant of the poor is taken as a pledge.

Before daybreak the murderer rises up; he kills the poor and the needy; in the night he is like a thief.

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

"You say, 'He is foam on the face of the waters; their portion of the land is cursed so that no one goes to their vineyard.

The drought as well as the heat carry away the melted snow; so the grave takes away those who have sinned.

God may let them rest in a feeling of security, but he is constantly watching all their ways.

"If this is not so, who can prove me a liar and reduce my words to nothing?"

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

how much less a mortal man, who is but a maggot -- a son of man, who is only a worm!"

To whom did you utter these words? And whose spirit has come forth from your mouth?

The underworld is naked before God; the place of destruction lies uncovered.

He marks out the horizon on the surface of the waters as a boundary between light and darkness.

Indeed, these are but the outer fringes of his ways! How faint is the whisper we hear of him! But who can understand the thunder of his power?"

"As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice, the Almighty, who has made my life bitter --

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?

I will teach you about the power of God; What is on the Almighty's mind I will not conceal.

This is the portion of the wicked man allotted by God, the inheritance that evildoers receive from the Almighty.

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

The house he builds is as fragile as a moth's cocoon, like a hut that a watchman has made.

He goes to bed wealthy, but will do so no more. When he opens his eyes, it is all gone.

The east wind carries him away, and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place.

It hurls itself against him without pity as he flees headlong from its power.

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

Iron is taken from the ground, and rock is poured out as copper.

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

a place whose stones are sapphires and which contains dust of gold;

"But wisdom -- where can it be found? Where is the place of understanding?

The deep says, 'It is not with me.' And the sea says, 'It is not with me.'

Of coral and jasper no mention will be made; the price of wisdom is more than pearls.

"But wisdom -- where does it come from? Where is the place of understanding?

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

"O that I could be as I was in the months now gone, in the days when God watched over me,

just as I was in my most productive time, when God's intimate friendship was experienced in my tent,

"As soon as the ear heard these things, it blessed me, and when the eye saw them, it bore witness to me,

"Then I thought, 'I will die in my own home, my days as numerous as the grains of sand.

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.

"But now they mock me, those who are younger than I, whose fathers I disdained too much to put with my sheep dogs.

Moreover, the strength of their hands -- what use was it to me? Men whose strength had perished;

They come in as through a wide breach; amid the crash they come rolling in.

My heart is in turmoil unceasingly; the days of my affliction confront me.

My skin has turned dark on me; my body is hot with fever.

My harp is used for mourning and my flute for the sound of weeping.

Is it not misfortune for the unjust, and disaster for those who work iniquity?

For it is a fire that devours even to Destruction, and it would uproot all my harvest.

Did not the one who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us in the womb?

whose heart did not bless me as he warmed himself with the fleece of my sheep,

if I looked at the sun when it was shining, and the moon advancing as a precious thing,

if I have covered my transgressions as men do, by hiding iniquity in my heart,

"If only I had someone to hear me! Here is my signature -- let the Almighty answer me! If only I had an indictment that my accuser had written.

So Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite spoke up: "I am young, but you are elderly; that is why I was fearful, and afraid to explain to you what I know.

But it is a spirit in people, the breath of the Almighty, that makes them understand.

It is not the aged who are wise, nor old men who understand what is right.

Look, I waited for you to speak; I listened closely to your wise thoughts,while you were searching for words.

Yet God finds occasions with me; he regards me as his enemy!

Now in this, you are not right -- I answer you, for God is greater than a human being.

In a dream, a night vision, when deep sleep falls on people as they sleep in their beds.

Or a person is chastened by pain on his bed, and with the continual strife of his bones,

If there is an angel beside him, one mediator out of a thousand, to tell a person what constitutes his uprightness;

and if God is gracious to him and says, 'Spare him from going down to the place of corruption, I have found a ransom for him,'

then his flesh is restored like a youth's; he returns to the days of his youthful vigor.

That person sings to others, saying: 'I have sinned and falsified what is right, but I was not punished according to what I deserved.

"Listen to my words, you wise men; hear me, you learned men.

For the ear assesses words as the mouth tastes food.

Let us evaluate for ourselves what is right; let us come to know among ourselves what is good.

Concerning my right, should I lie? My wound is incurable, although I am without transgression.'

What man is like Job, who drinks derision like water!

There is no darkness, and no deep darkness, where evildoers can hide themselves.

But if God is quiet, who can condemn him? If he hides his face, then who can see him? Yet he is over the individual and the nation alike,

Is it your opinion that God should recompense it, because you reject this? But you must choose, and not I, so tell us what you know.

Men of understanding say to me -- any wise man listening to me says --

But no one says, 'Where is God, my Creator, who gives songs in the night,

who teaches us more than the wild animals of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?'

Surely it is an empty cry -- God does not hear it; the Almighty does not take notice of it.

How much less, then, when you say that you do not perceive him, that the case is before him and you are waiting for him!

For in truth, my words are not false; it is one complete in knowledge who is with you.

Indeed, God is mighty; and he does not despise people, he is mighty, and firm in his intent.

Indeed, God is exalted in his power; who is a teacher like him?

Who has prescribed his ways for him? Or said to him, 'You have done what is wicked'?

"Yes, God is great -- beyond our knowledge! The number of his years is unsearchable.

It is by these that he judges the nations and supplies food in abundance.

After that a voice roars; he thunders with an exalted voice, and he does not hold back his lightning bolts when his voice is heard.

The breath of God produces ice, and the breadth of the waters freeze solid.

Whether it is for punishment for his land, or whether it is for mercy, he causes it to find its mark.

Do you know about the balancing of the clouds, that wondrous activity of him who is perfect in knowledge?

You, whose garments are hot when the earth is still because of the south wind,

will you, with him, spread out the clouds, solid as a mirror of molten metal?

Tell us what we should say to him. We cannot prepare a case because of the darkness.

But now, the sun cannot be looked at -- it is bright in the skies -- after a wind passed and swept the clouds away.

From the north he comes in golden splendor; around God is awesome majesty.

As for the Almighty, we cannot attain to him! He is great in power, but justice and abundant righteousness he does not oppress.

Therefore people fear him, for he does not regard all the wise in heart."

"Who is this who darkens counsel with words without knowledge?

Then from the wicked the light is withheld, and the arm raised in violence is broken.

"In what direction does light reside, and darkness, where is its place,

You know, for you were born before them; and the number of your days is great!