I wish that my words were written down,
that they were recorded on a scroll

Which I shall see for myself, and mine eyes beheld, and not a stranger: my reins were finished in my bosom.

Make sure that you remain wary of God's sword, for God's wrath brings with it the sword of punishment, by which you'll know there's a judgment."

I have heard the reproof which putteth me to shame; And the spirit of my understanding answereth me.

Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?

The eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him.

His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust.

“He sucks the poison of vipers [which ill-gotten wealth contains];
The viper’s tongue slays him.

He will not look on the streams, the rivers, which are the torrents of honey and butter.

That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down: according to his substance shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein.

Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not;

Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired.

All darkness is laid up for his treasures: A fire not blown by man'shall devour him; It shall consume that which is left in his tent.

A flood will wash away his house; dragging it away when God becomes angry.

Is it with a man, that I make this disputation? Which if it were so, should not my spirit be then in sore trouble?

They become as straw before the wind, and as chaff, which the storm stealeth away.

Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me.

“For you say, ‘Where is the house of the noble man?
And where is the tent, the dwelling place of the wicked?’

Who doth declare to his face his way? And for that which he hath done, Who doth give recompence to him?

Yet shall he be borne to the grave, And men shall keep watch over the tomb.

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?

Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden?

Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood:

Which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them?

‘Surely our adversaries are cut off and destroyed,
And fire has consumed their abundance.’

He shall give thee a harvest, which in plenty and abundance shall exceed the dust of the earth, and the gold of Ophir like river stones.

I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me.

Because he knows the road on which I travel, when he had tested me, I'll come out like gold.

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

For I am overcome by the dark, and by the black night which is covering my face.

Considering then that there is no time hid from the Almighty, how happeneth it, that they which know him, will not regard his days?

Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.

whereas they, notwithstanding, are rebellious and disobedient enemies: which seek not his light and way, nor turn again in to his path.

In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light.

"The ungodly is very swift: O that his portion also upon earth were swifter than the running water, which suffereth not the shipman to behold the fair and pleasant vineyards.

Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned.

“A mother will forget him;
The worm feeds on him until he is no longer remembered.
And wickedness will be broken like a tree [which cannot be restored].

He gives them a sense of security, so they can rely on it,
but His eyes watch over their ways.

How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?

How have you given help to him who has no power! how have you been the salvation of the arm which has no strength!

Where is the counsel that thou shouldest give him, which hath no wisdom? Wilt thou so show thine excellent righteousness?

yea, and all they which dwell beneath in the hell are not hid from him, and the very destruction itself cannot be kept out of his sight.

“He wraps the waters in His clouds [which otherwise would spill on earth all at once],
And the cloud does not burst under them.

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.

"As truly as God liveth, which hath taken away my power from me; and the Almighty, that hath vexed my mind;

I will teach you by the hand of God: that which is with the Almighty will I not conceal.

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

He buildeth his house as the moth, And as a booth which the keeper maketh.

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

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

“Its stones are the bed of sapphires;
It holds dust of gold.

There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen:

If only I might again be as I was in the months which are past, in the days when God was watching over me!

And why? I put upon me righteousness, which covered me as a garment, and equity was my crown.

I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out.

And now the younger than I laughed upon me, which I rejected their fathers to set with the dogs of my flock.

They are dried up with want and famine; they who gnaw the dry ground, which was before waste and ruin,

They were children of fools and villains, which are dead away from the world.

“I am a brother to [howling] jackals,
And a companion to ostriches [which scream dismally].

For that would be a crime; it would be an act for which punishment would be measured out by the judges:

“For it is a fire which consumes to Abaddon (destruction, ruin, final torment);
And [illicit passion] would burn and rage and uproot all my [life’s] increase [destroying everything].

I never suffered my mouth to do such a sin, as to wish him evil.

Oh that I had one to hear me! (Lo, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me); And that I had the indictment which mine adversary hath written!

But there is a spirit which is in man; and the breath of the Almighty giveth them understanding.

Behold, my belly is as wine which hath no vent; it is ready to burst like new bottles.

My words'shall utter the uprightness of my heart; And that which my lips know they shall speak sincerely.

“The Spirit of God has made me,
And the breath of the Almighty gives me life [which inspires me].

Behold, I am according to thy wish in God's stead: I also am formed out of the clay.

He doth put in the stocks my feet, He doth watch all my paths.'

that it is he, which withdraweth man from evil, delivereth him from pride,

His flesh is wasted away from sight, and his bones, [which] are invisible, are bared.

If now there may be an angel sent to him, one of the thousands which there are to be between him and God, and to make clear to man what is right for him;

Then his flesh, which hath been in misery and trouble, shall be as it was in his youth.

He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not;

Let us choose for us that which is right: Let us know among ourselves what is good.

Which goeth in company with the workers of iniquity, and walketh with wicked men.

For His eyes watch over a man’s ways,
and He observes all his steps.

There is no dark place, and no thick cloud, in which the workers of evil may take cover.

That which I see not teach thou me: if I have done iniquity, I will do no more.

I wish that Job were tried to the end, because of his answering like wicked men.

yea, above his sins he hath blasphemed, which offense he hath done even before us, in that he striveth against God with his words!"

Look unto the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds which are higher than thou.

Which giveth us more understanding than he doth the beasts of the earth, and teacheth us more than the fouls of heaven?'

“Surely God will not listen to an empty cry [which lacks trust],
Nor will the Almighty regard it.

“And now, because He has not [quickly] punished in His anger,
Nor has He acknowledged transgression and arrogance well [and seems unaware of the wrong of which a person is guilty],

Then he makes clear to them what they have done, even their evil works in which they have taken pride.

Even so would he have removed thee out of the strait into a broad place, where there is no straitness; and that which should be set on thy table should be full of fatness.

and there shall be wrath upon the impious because of the ungodliness of bribes which the unrighteous receive.

But beware that thou turn not aside to wickedness and sin, which hitherto thou hast chosen more than meekness.

Remember that thou magnify his work, which men behold.

For he draweth up the drops of water, Which distil in rain from his vapor,

Which the clouds do drop and distil upon man abundantly.

He covers [his] hands [with] lightning, and he commands it the place at [which] to strike.

Give ear to the rolling noise of his voice; to the hollow sound which goes out of his mouth.

God thundereth marvellously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend.

Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowledge?

Hast thou with him spread out the sky, which is strong, and as a molten looking glass?

Shall it be told him that I would speak? Or should a man wish that he were swallowed up?

And now men see not the bright light which is in the clouds: but the wind passeth, and cleanseth them.

Therefore humanity fears him, which none of the wise can quite comprehend."