There is not yet a mediator between us, who would set his hand on the two of us,

Do you have eyes made of flesh? Can you look at things as humans do?

Can you live only as long as a human being? Or live the years of a mortal man?

as if I had never existed; carried from the womb to the grave.

It's a gloomy land, like deepest darkness; where there's no order, and where even the brightness is like darkness.'"

You've said, "My teaching is flawless; I'm clean in God's sight.'

and disclose his wise secrets? After all, there's so much more to understanding. So be aware that God will exact from you less than your sin deserves."

An empty-headed person will gain understanding when a wild donkey is born a human being!"

You'll be secure, because there is hope; you'll see that you're at rest and safe.

But what the wicked look for will fail; their way of escape will be taken away from them; their only hope is to take their final breath."

The tents of robbers are at rest, and those who provoke God are secure, that is, those who carry their god in their pocket.

The ear scrutinizes speech just as the palate tastes food."

With God is wisdom and strength; counsel and understanding belongs to him.

He uncovers the hidden dimensions from darkness, bringing what is in deep shadow to light.

"But as for you, you whitewash with lies; all of you are worthless quacks.

I wish you'd all just shut up. Then at least you would appear to be wise.

Will things go well for you under his cross-examination? Can you lie to him, as you would to a human being?

I have this as my salvation: the godless person won't be appearing before him.

Grant me only two things as you deal with me; then I won't hide from you.

Why do you hide your face and regard me as your enemy?

Since his days have been determined, the number of his months is known to you. You've set his limit and he cannot exceed it.

"There is hope for the tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots won't stop growing.

As water disappears from the sea, or water evaporates from a river,

"Should a wise person respond with knowledge based on wind? Should he fill his stomach with a wind storm from the east?

Your own mouth is condemning you, not I; your own lips will testify against you."

What do you know that we don't know, or that you understand and that isn't clear to us?

"We have both the gray-haired and the aged with us, and they are far older than your father.

"What is mankind, that he can be blameless? Or does being born of a woman mean he'll be in the right?

Look, if God doesn't trust his holy ones, if even the heavens aren't pure as he looks at them,

then how much less is one who is abhorred and corrupted, such as a man who drinks injustice like water?"

which is what wise men have explained, who didn't withhold anything from their ancestors.

He does not believe he will escape darkness; he is destined for the sword.

He wanders around for food where is it? He knows that a time of darkness is near.

Though he covered his face with fat, and is grossly overweight at the waist,

"He is like a vine that drops its unripe grapes; like an olive tree that loses its blossoms.

For the company of the godless is desolation, and fire consumes the tents of those who bribe.

For they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity; their womb is pregnant with deception."

Will windy words like yours never end? What is upsetting you that you keep on arguing?

Attack follows attack as he breaks through my defenses! He runs over me like a mighty warrior.

My face is red from my tears, and dark shadows encircle my eyelids,

even though violence is not my intention, and my prayer is pure."

Even now, behold! I have a witness in heaven, my Advocate is on high.

crying for him to arbitrate between this man and God; as a human being does with his fellow neighbor.

"My spirit is crushed, my days are over; it's the grave for me!

Offer, then, some collateral on my behalf. Is there anyone who will be my guarantor?

Now as for the one who testifies against his friends to take their property, even the eyes of his children will fail.

My eyes have grown weak from grief; and my whole body is as thin as a shadow.

The upright are appalled over this, and the innocent person is troubled by the godless.

"Come here now, all of you, and I won't find a wise person among you.

They have transformed night into day "The light,' they say, "is about to become dark.'

"If my hope were that my house is the afterlife itself, if I were to make my bed in darkness,

"Indeed, the light of the wicked is extinguished; the flame from his fire doesn't shine.

Light in his tent is dark, and his lamp goes out above him.

A rope lies hidden in the dirt; a trap lies waiting for him where he is walking."

"He is petrified by terror that surrounds him on all sides; they chase at his heels.

He is starved for strength; and is ripe for a fall.

Torn from the security of his home, he is brought before the king of terrors.

"There's nothing in his tent that belongs to him; sulfur is scattered all over his dwelling place.

He is driven away from light to darkness, made to wander the landscape.

He is breaking me down on every side, and now it's too late for me; he has uprooted my hopes like a tree.

His anger burns against me; he regards me as his adversary.

Why are you chasing me, as God has been doing? Aren't you satisfied that I'm sick?

"As for me, I know that my Vindicator is alive; And he, the Last One, will take his stand on the soil.

whom I will see for myself. My own eyes will look at him there won't be anyone else for me! He is the culmination of my innermost desire."

"When you're thinking about asking yourselves, "How will we pursue him, since the root of the problem is with him?'

The wicked triumph only briefly; the joy of the godless is momentary.

Though he grow as tall as the sky, or though his head touches the clouds,

he'll perish forever, like his own excrement; those who saw him will ask, "Where is he?'

Even though he is satiated and self-sufficient, he suffers everyone in any sort of trouble will attack him.

It will impale him and come out through his back; the point will glisten as it protrudes through his gall bladder, and he will be terrified.

This is what the wicked person inherits from God; it is the inheritance that God appoints for him."

singing with tambourines and lyres as they rejoice to the sound of flutes.

They grow old in prosperity, as they descend peacefully into the afterlife.

"They say to God, "Turn away from us! We have no desire to know your ways.

Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? Where's the profit in talking to him?'

His buckets are filled with milk, his bone marrow is healthy.

You ask, "Where is the noble person's house?' and "Where are the tents where the wicked live?'

that the wicked person is spared from times of calamity, that he is rescued on the day of wrath?

when he is carried away to the cemetery and guardians are placed to watch his tomb?

How then, can you console me so worthlessly? What is left of your answers is treachery."

"Can a human being be useful to God, since he, who is wise, is sufficient to himself?

Will it please the Almighty if you are innocent, or does he profit if your life is blameless?

Your wickedness is great, isn't it? There's no limit to your iniquity, is there?

Thick clouds cover him so he can't see as he walks back and forth at heaven's horizon.

They told God, "Get away from us!' and "What will the Almighty do to them?'

"If you return to the Almighty you'll be restored, as you remove iniquity from your household.

You'll entreat him and he'll listen to you as you fulfill your vows.

"I'm still complaining bitterly today; my hand is heavy because of groaning.

"Would he use his great power to fight me? No, he'll pay attention to me.

"But he is One who can change him? He does whatever he wants to do.

They drive away the orphan's donkey; they take the ox of the widow as security for a loan;

"Look! Like wild donkeys in the wilderness, they work diligently as they seek wild game in the desert, food for them and their young ones.

"The fatherless are torn from the breast; the poor are taken away as security for a loan.

The murderer rises at dawn to kill the poor and needy; at night, he is like a thief.

The adulterer watches for twilight, saying, "No eye is watching me' while he veils his face.

As a group, deep darkness is their morning time; fear that lives in darkness is their friend."

As drought and heat evaporate melting snow, that's what Sheol does with sinners.

Is there any limit to his armies? On whom does his light not shine?

How much less is man, who is only a maggot, or a man's children, who are only worms!"

Sheol is naked before God and Abaddon has no clothes.