His breasts have been full of milk, And marrow his bones doth moisten.

And this one dieth with a bitter soul, And have not eaten with gladness.

Lo, I have known your thoughts, And the devices against me ye do wrongfully.

Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens,

Sweet to him have been the clods of the valley, And after him every man he draweth, And before him there is no numbering.

“For you have taken pledges of your brothers without cause,
And stripped men naked.

“You have not given water to the weary to drink,
And you have withheld bread from the hungry.

Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.

But you have said, 'What does God know? Does he judge through such deep darkness?

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

Who have been cut down unexpectedly, A flood is poured out on their foundation.

Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver.

For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God.

And thou shalt decree a purpose, and it shall be fulfilled unto thee, and, upon thy ways, shall have shone a light;

For they have made low, And thou sayest, 'Lift up.' And the bowed down of eyes he saveth.

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

Yet He knows the way I have taken;
when He has tested me, I will emerge as pure gold.

My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.

Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

For I have not been cut off before darkness, And before me He covered thick darkness.

Wherefore from the Mighty One Times have not been hidden, And those knowing Him have not seen His days.

The borders they reach, A drove they have taken violently away, Yea, they do evil.

They turn aside the needy from the way, Together have hid the poor of the earth.

Lo, wild asses in a wilderness, They have gone out about their work, Seeking early for prey, A mixture for himself -- food for young ones.

They get mixed grain from the field, and they take away the late fruit from the vines of those who have wealth.

They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold.

From the inundation of hills they are wet, And without a refuge -- have embraced a rock.

Naked, they have gone without clothing, And hungry -- have taken away a sheaf.

Between their walls they make oil, Wine-presses they have trodden, and thirst.

They have been among rebellious ones of light, They have not discerned His ways, Nor abode in His paths.

He hath dug in the darkness -- houses; By day they shut themselves up, They have not known light.

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

[He] feeds on [the] barren, [who] does not have a child, and does no good to [the] widow.

Yet God drags away the mighty by His power;
when He rises up, they have no assurance of life.

High they were for a little, and they are not, And they have been brought low. As all others they are shut up, And as the head of an ear of corn cut off.

Lo -- unto the moon, and it shineth not, And stars have not been pure in His eyes.

“What a help you are to the weak (powerless)!
How you have saved the arm that is without strength!

“How you have counseled the one who has no wisdom!
And how abundantly you have provided sound wisdom and helpful insight!

“To whom have you uttered [these] words?
And whose spirit [inspired what] came forth from you?

He clears the skies with his wind; his hands have pierced the fleeing serpent.

On my righteousness I have laid hold, And I do not let it go, My heart doth not reproach me while I live.

For what hope does the godless man have when he is cut off,
when God takes away his life?

"I will teach you in the name of God: and the thing that I have of the Almighty, will I not keep from you.

Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it; why then are ye thus altogether vain?

saying, 'This is that portion that the wicked shall have of God, and the heritage that Tyrants shall receive of the Almighty'?

“Though his children are many, they are destined for the sword;
And his descendants will not have sufficient bread.

Look, whom he leaveth behind him, they shall die and be buried, and no man shall have pity of his widows.

Though he have as much money as the dust of the earth, and raiment as ready as the clay,

He makes a deep mine far away from those living in the light of day; when they go about on the earth, they have no knowledge of those who are under them, who are hanging far from men, twisting from side to side on a cord.

a place where birds of prey never fly, and the eyes of the falcon have never seen.

The lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it.

He has cut out channels through the rocks; his eyes have spotted every precious thing.

The ocean depths say, “It’s not in me,”
while the sea declares, “I don’t have it.”

Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears.

As I have been in days of my maturity, And the counsel of God upon my tent.

Seen me have youths, and they, been hidden, And the aged have risen -- they stood up.

Princes have kept in words, And a hand they place on their mouth.

He that should have been lost, gave me a good word, and the widow's heart praised me.

Righteousness I have put on, and it clotheth me, As a robe and a diadem my justice.

Eyes I have been to the blind, And feet to the lame am I.

A father I am to the needy, And the cause I have not known I search out.

"Therefore, I thought verily that I should have died in my nest: and that my days should have been as many as the sands of the sea.

My roots will have access to water,
and the dew will rest on my branches all night.

To me they have hearkened, Yea, they wait, and are silent for my counsel.

If I had spoken, they would have it none other ways, my words were so well taken among them.

And they wait as for rain for me, And their mouth they have opened wide As for the latter rain.

But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.

Furthermore, what could I have gained from men whose strength is gone?

They have to get a resting-place in the hollows of the valleys, in holes of the earth and rocks.

Sons of folly -- even sons without name, They have been smitten from the land.

And now, their song I have been, And I am to them for a byword.

They have abominated me, They have kept far from me, And from before me have not spared to spit.

Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.

On the right hand doth a brood arise, My feet they have cast away, And they raise up against me, Their paths of calamity.

They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.

As a wide breach they come, Under the desolation have rolled themselves.

Terrors have turned on me. They chase my honor as the wind. My welfare has passed away as a cloud.

And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.

By their great force they have become my raiment; they bind me about as the collar of my coat.

He hath cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.

I cry unto Thee, And Thou dost not answer me, I have stood, and Thou dost consider me.

“You have become harsh and cruel to me;
With the might of Your hand You [keep me alive only to] persecute me.

For I have known To death Thou dost bring me back, And to the house appointed for all living.

Surely not against the heap Doth He send forth the hand, Though in its ruin they have safety.

Have I not wept for {the unfortunate}, [and] grieved myself over the poor?

I have hoped for good, but evil came instead; I have hoped for light, but darkness came.

My bowels well up, and rest not; days of affliction have confronted me.

Mourning I have gone without the sun, I have risen, in an assembly I cry.

A brother I have been to dragons, And a companion to daughters of the ostrich.

I have made a covenant with my eyes.
How then could I look at a young woman?

For what would have been my portion of +God from above, and what the heritage of the Almighty from on high?

If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit;

If my step have turned out of the way, and my heart followed mine eyes, and if any blot cleaveth to my hands;

let someone else eat what I have sown,
and let my crops be uprooted.

If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour's door;

then let my wife turn the millstone for another man, and may other men have sexual relations with her.

For I would have committed a shameful act, an iniquity to be judged.

Surely, a fire, had that been, which, unto destruction, would have consumed, and, of all mine increase, had it torn up the root.

If I have despised the cause of my man-servant or of my maid-servant, When they contended with me;

What then could I have done when GOD rose up? And, when he visited, what could I have answered him?