Old men have wisdom, and a long life gives knowledge.

He poureth out confusion upon princes, and comforteth them that have been oppressed.

Look, my eyes have seen all this;
my ears have heard and understood it.

According to your knowledge I have known -- also I. I am not fallen more than you.

But I would have talk with the Ruler of all, and my desire is to have an argument with God.

“But you smear me with lies [you defame my character most untruthfully];
You are all worthless physicians and have no remedy to offer.

Will you have respect for God's person in this cause, and put yourselves forward as his supporters?

Will it be good for you to be searched out by him, or have you the thought that he may be guided into error like a man?

He will certainly put you right, if you have respect for persons in secret.

"{Let me have silence}, and I myself will speak, and let come over me whatever [may].

Behold, he will kill me. I have no hope. Nevertheless, I will maintain my ways before him.

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

Pay attention to what I have to say and listen to my testimony with your own ears."

Behold now, I have prepared my case; I know that I shall be justified.

Only grant these two things to me, God,
so that I will not have to hide from Your presence:

How many iniquities and sins have I committed?
Reveal to me my transgression and sin.

Indeed, have you opened your eyes on one like this to bring me into a legal fight with you?

Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with you, you have appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;

Let your eyes be turned away from him, and take your hand from him, so that he may have pleasure at the end of his day, like a servant working for payment.

Even if its roots have grown ancient in the earth, and its stump begins to rot in the ground,

Waters, have failed from, the sea, and, a river, may waste and dry up;

You shall call, and I will answer you: you will have a desire to the work of your hands.

Stones, have been hollowed out by waters, the floods thereof wash away the dust of the earth, and, the hope of mortal man, thou hast destroyed:

But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn.

“Should a wise man [such as you] utter such windy and vain knowledge [as we have just heard]
And fill himself with the east wind [of withering, parching, and violent accusations]?

Does he argue with useless talk, with words that have no value in them?

Because your sin dictates your speech, you have chosen the language of the crafty.

Have you heard the council of God? and do you limit wisdom to yourself?

What knowledge have you which we have not? is there anything in your mind which is not in ours?

With us are old and aged men; yea, such as have lived longer than thy forefathers.

“Are the consolations of God [as we have interpreted them to you] too trivial for you,
[Or] were we too gentle toward you [in our first speech] to be effective?

Why have your emotions carried you away? And why do your eyes flash

That you should turn your spirit against God
And let such words [as you have spoken] go out of your mouth?

Lo, in His holy ones He putteth no credence, And the heavens have not been pure in His eyes.

I will show you, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare;

Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it:

'All days of the wicked he is paining himself, And few years have been laid up for the terrible one.

And he inhabiteth cities cut off, houses not dwelt in, That have been ready to become heaps.

I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are you all.

Shall vain words have an end? or what emboldens you that you answer?

and encourage you with what I have to say; my words of comfort would lessen your pain.

Even if I speak, my suffering is not relieved,
and if I hold back, what have I lost?

But now he has made me weary: you have made desolate all my company.

And you have filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me: and my leanness rising up in me bears witness to my face.

They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against me.

At ease I have been, and he breaketh me, And he hath laid hold on my neck, And he breaketh me in pieces, And he raiseth me to him for a mark.

His archers surround me; he slashes open my kidneys, and he does not have compassion; he pours out my gall on the ground.

I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and laid my strength in the dust.

Though my hands have done no violent acts, and my prayer is clean.

O earth, cover not my blood, and let my cry have no place.

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

When a few years have come, then I shall go the way where I shall not return.

My spirit is broken, my days have faded out, the grave awaits me.

For you have hidden their heart from understanding: therefore shall you not exalt them.

He has made me an object of scorn to the people;
I have become a man people spit at.

My eyes have grown dim from grief,
and my whole body has become but a shadow.

My days have slipped by;
my plans have been ruined,
even the things dear to my heart.

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

If I wait, the grave is my house: I have made my bed in the darkness.

I have said to corruption, You are my father: to the worm, You are my mother, and my sister.

Where now is my hope?
And who regards or considers or is even concerned about my hope?

All that I have, shall go down into the pit, and lie with me in the dust."

How long will it be before you have done talking? Get wisdom, and then we will say what is in our minds.

Why are we counted as animals, which have become unclean in your sight?

Round about, terrors have startled him, and have driven him to his feet.

His memory shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street.

He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings.

Over his day, have they been astounded who come behind, and, them who are in advance, a shudder hath seized.

These ten times have you reproached me: you are not ashamed that you have wronged me.

And if indeed I have erred, my error remains with myself.

His troops have come together and have thrown up their rampart against me and have encamped around my tent.

"He has removed my kinsfolk from me, and my acquaintances have only turned aside from me.

My kinsfolk have failed, and my close friends have forgotten me.

The sojourners in my house and my slave women count me as a stranger; I have become a foreigner in their eyes.

“I call to my servant, but he does not answer;
I have to implore him with my mouth.

Even youngsters have scorned me; when I get up, they scoff at me.

All my close friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved have turned against me.

My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O you my friends; for the hand of God has touched me.

That -- I have known my Redeemer, The Living and the Last, For the dust he doth rise.

Whom, I myself, shall see, on my side, and, mine own eyes, shall have looked upon, and not those of a stranger. Exhausted are my deepest desires in my bosom!

I have heard the rebuke of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer.

"Haven't you known this from ancient times, since mankind was placed on the earth?

Yet he shall perish forever like his own refuse: they who have seen him shall say, Where is he?

His bones have been full of his youth, And with him on the dust it lieth down.

But he shall labour, and yet have nothing to eat. Great travail shall he make for riches, but he shall not enjoy them.

"For though the wicked have never so much to fill his belly, yet God shall send his wrath upon him, and cause his indignation to rain over him:

If he have fled from the iron weapon, the bow of brass shall strike him through.

This is the portion that the wicked shall have of God, and the heritage that he may look for of the LORD."

Bear with me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on.

Yea, if I have remembered, then I have been troubled. And my flesh hath taken fright.

Wherefore do the wicked live? They have become old, Yea, they have been mighty in wealth.

They send out their young ones like a flock, and their children have pleasure in the dance,

They bear with them tabrets and harps, and have instruments of music at their pleasure.

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

What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?

Lo, there is utterly no goodness in them, therefore will not I have to do with the counsel of the ungodly.

"How often do the wicked have their lights put out? Does calamity ever fall on them? Will God in his anger ever apportion their destruction?

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!

For what pleasure should he have in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off?