You say, God keeps punishment stored up for his children. Let him send it on the man himself, so that he may have the punishment of it!

Let his eyes see his trouble, and let him be full of the wrath of the Ruler of all!

See, I am conscious of your thoughts, and of your violent purposes against me;

For you say, Where is the house of the ruler, and where is the tent of the evil-doer?

Why then do you give me comfort with words in which there is no profit, when you see that there is nothing in your answers but deceit?

Is it possible for a man to be of profit to God? No, for a man's wisdom is only of profit to himself.

For you have taken your brother's goods when he was not in your debt, and have taken away the clothing of those who have need of it.

Your light is made dark so that you are unable to see, and you are covered by a mass of waters.

Is not God as high as heaven? and see the stars, how high they are!

And you say, What knowledge has God? is he able to give decisions through the deep dark?

Thick clouds are covering him, so that he is unable to see; and he is walking on the arch of heaven.

The upright saw it and were glad: and those who had done no wrong made sport of them,

Put yourself now in a right relation with him and be at peace: so will you do well in your undertakings.

If only I had knowledge of where he might be seen, so that I might come even to his seat!

I would see what his answers would be, and have knowledge of what he would say to me.

See, I go forward, but he is not there; and back, but I do not see him;

I am looking for him on the left hand, but there is no sign of him; and turning to the right, I am not able to see him.

Why are times not stored up by the Ruler of all, and why do those who have knowledge of him not see his days?

They send away the ass of him who has no father, they take the widow's ox for debt.

The child without a father is forced from its mother's breast, and they take the young children of the poor for debt.

He who is purposing death gets up before day, so that he may put to death the poor and those in need.

And the man whose desire is for the wife of another is waiting for the evening, saying, No eye will see me; and he puts a cover on his face. And in the night the thief goes about;

Snow waters become dry with the heat: so do sinners go down into the underworld.

And if it is not so, now, who will make it clear that my words are false, and that what I say is of no value?

See, even the moon is not bright, and the stars are not clean in his eyes:

By his power the sea was made quiet; and by his wisdom Rahab was wounded.

See, these are only the outskirts of his ways; and how small is that which comes to our ears about him! But the thunder of his acts of power is outside all knowledge.

Truly, there is no deceit in my lips, and my tongue does not say what is false.

Let it be far from me! I will certainly not say that you are right! I will come to death before I give up my righteousness.

I will keep it safe, and will not let it go: my heart has nothing to say against any part of my life.

His house has no more strength than a spider's thread, or a watchman's tent.

He goes to rest full of wealth, but does so for the last time: on opening his eyes, he sees it there no longer.

No bird has knowledge of it, and the hawk's eye has never seen it.

The deep waters say, It is not in me: and the sea says, It is not with me.

There is no need to say anything about coral or crystal; and the value of wisdom is greater than that of pearls.

Destruction and Death say, We have only had word of it with our ears.

Then he saw it, and put it on record; he gave it its fixed form, searching it out completely.

The young men saw me, and went away, and the old men got up from their seats;

For when it came to their ears, men said that I was truly happy; and when their eyes saw, they gave witness to me;

The blessing of him who was near to destruction came on me, and I put a song of joy into the widow's heart.

For what is God's reward from on high, or the heritage given by the Ruler of all from heaven?

Does he not see my ways, and are not my steps all numbered?

(Let me be measured in upright scales, and let God see my righteousness:)

If my heart went after another man's wife, or if I was waiting secretly at my neighbour's door;

If I kept back the desire of the poor; if the widow's eye was looking for help to no purpose;

If I saw one near to death for need of clothing, and that the poor had nothing covering him;

If my hand had been lifted up against him who had done no wrong, when I saw that I was supported by the judges;

If, when I saw the sun shining, and the moon moving on its bright way,

If the men of my tent did not say, Who has not had full measure of his meat?

The traveller did not take his night's rest in the street, and my doors were open to anyone on a journey;

For fear of the great body of people, or for fear that families might make sport of me, so that I kept quiet, and did not go out of my door;

So these three men gave no more answers to Job, because he seemed to himself to be right.

And he was angry with his three friends, because they had been unable to give him an answer, and had not made Job's sin clear.

And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of the three men, he was very angry.

And Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, made answer and said, I am young, and you are very old, so I was in fear, and kept myself from putting my knowledge before you.

I said to myself, It is right for the old to say what is in their minds, and for those who are far on in years to give out wisdom.

So I say, Give ear to me, and I will put forward my knowledge.

I was waiting for your words, I was giving ear to your wise sayings; while you were searching out what to say,

I was taking note; and truly not one of you was able to make clear Job's error, or to give an answer to his words.

Take care that you do not say, Wisdom is here; God may overcome him, but not man.

And am I to go on waiting while they have nothing to say? while they keep quiet and give no more answers?

Let me say what is in my mind, so that I may get comfort; let me give answer with open mouth.

And now, O Job, give ear to my words, and take note of all I say.

See, now my mouth is open, my tongue gives out words.

My heart is overflowing with knowledge, my lips say what is true.

See, I am the same as you are in the eyes of God; I was cut off from the same bit of wet earth.

See, he is looking for something against me; in his eyes I am as one of his haters;

Then he makes his secrets clear to men, so that they are full of fear at what they see;

His flesh is so wasted away, that it may not be seen, and his bones. ...

He makes his prayer to God, and he has mercy on him; he sees God's face with cries of joy; he gives news of his righteousness to men;

Keeping back his soul from the underworld, so that he may see the light of life.

Take note O Job, give ear to me; keep quiet, while I say what is in my mind.

If you have anything to say, give me an answer; for it is my desire that you may be judged free from sin.

How may a hater of right be a ruler? and will you say that the upright Ruler of all is evil?

For he has knowledge of their works, overturning them in the night, so that they are crushed.

So that the cry of the poor might come up to him, and the prayer of those in need come to his ears.

Men of knowledge, and all wise men, hearing me, will say,

Job's words do not come from knowledge; they are not the fruit of wisdom.

Does it seem to you to be right, and righteousness before God, to say,

Let your eyes be turned to the heavens, and lifted up to see the skies; they are higher than you.

How much less when you say that you do not see him; that the cause is before him, and you are waiting for him.

And Job's mouth is open wide to give out what is of no profit, increasing words without knowledge.

And Elihu went on to say,

Give me a little more time, and I will make it clear to you; for I have still something to say for God.

Their ear is open to his teaching, and he gives them orders so that their hearts may be turned from evil.

See that you give praise to his work, about which men make songs.

For he takes up the drops from the sea; he sends them through his mist as rain,

See, he is stretching out his mist, covering the tops of the mountains with it.

He puts an end to the work of every man, so that all may see his work.

Have you knowledge of God's ordering of his works, how he makes the light of his cloud to be seen?

Make clear to me what we are to say to him; we are unable to put our cause before him, because of the dark.

How may he have knowledge of my desire for talk with him? or did any man ever say, May destruction come on me?

A bright light comes out of the north; God's glory is greatly to be feared.

Where were you when I put the earth on its base? Say, if you have knowledge.

By whom were its measures fixed? Say, if you have wisdom; or by whom was the line stretched out over it?

Or where were you when the sea came to birth, pushing out from its secret place;

And said, So far you may come, and no farther; and here the pride of your waves will be stopped?

So that it might take a grip of the skirts of the earth, shaking all the evil-doers out of it?

Have you come into the springs of the sea, walking in the secret places of the deep?

Have you taken note of the wide limits of the earth? Say, if you have knowledge of it all.