For now should I have lain down and been quiet. I should have slept, then I would have been at rest,

There the wicked cease from troubling. There the weary are at rest.

There the prisoners are at ease together. They do not hear the voice of the taskmaster.

Who long for death, but it doesn't come; and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,

For my sighing comes before I eat. My groanings are poured out like water.

I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither have I rest; but trouble comes."

But now it is come to you, and you faint. It touches you, and you are troubled.

According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity, and sow trouble, reap the same.

"Now a thing was secretly brought to me. My ear received a whisper of it.

It stood still, but I couldn't discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes. Silence, then I heard a voice, saying,

Between morning and evening they are destroyed. They perish forever without any regarding it.

whose harvest the hungry eats up, and take it even out of the thorns. The snare gapes for their substance.

For affliction doesn't come forth from the dust, neither does trouble spring out of the ground;

They meet with darkness in the day time, and grope at noonday as in the night.

You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, neither shall you be afraid of destruction when it comes.

At destruction and famine you shall laugh, neither shall you be afraid of the animals of the earth.

For you shall be in league with the stones of the field. The animals of the field shall be at peace with you.

Look this, we have searched it, so it is. Hear it, and know it for your good."

For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas, therefore have my words been rash.

Can that which has no flavor be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?

even that it would please God to crush me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off.

Be it still my consolation, yes, let me exult in pain that doesn't spare, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

What is my strength, that I should wait? What is my end, that I should be patient?

Isn't it that I have no help in me, That wisdom is driven quite from me?

In the dry season, they vanish. When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.

How forcible are words of uprightness. But your reproof, what does it reprove?

Now therefore be pleased to look at me, for surely I shall not lie to your face.

My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust. My skin closes up, and breaks out afresh.

What is man, that you should magnify him, that you should set your mind on him,

If I have sinned, what do I do to you, you watcher of men? Why have you set me as a mark for you, so that I am a burden to myself?

Though your beginning was small, yet your latter end would greatly increase.

"Please inquire of past generations. Find out about the learning of their fathers.

Shall they not teach you, tell you, and utter words out of their heart?

While it is yet in its greenness, not cut down, it withers before any other reed.

He shall lean on his house, but it shall not stand. He shall cling to it, but it shall not endure.

If he is destroyed from his place, then it shall deny him, saying, 'I have not seen you.'

Behold, this is the joy of his way: out of the earth, others shall spring.

"Truly I know that it is so, but how can man be just with God?

He removes the mountains, and they do not know it, when he overturns them in his anger.

He shakes the earth out of its place. Its pillars tremble.

He commands the sun, and it doesn't rise, and seals up the stars.

He alone stretches out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea.

He does great things past finding out; yes, marvelous things without number.

Behold, he snatches away. Who can hinder him? Who will ask him, 'What are you doing?'

Though I were righteous, yet I wouldn't answer him. I would make supplication to my judge.

If I had called, and he had answered me, yet I wouldn't believe that he listened to my voice.

If it is a matter of strength, behold, he is mighty. If of justice, 'Who,' says he, 'will summon me?'

Though I am righteous, my own mouth shall condemn me. Though I am blameless, it shall prove me perverse.

"It is all the same. Therefore I say he destroys the blameless and the wicked.

If the scourge kills suddenly, he will mock at the trial of the innocent.

The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If not he, then who is it?

yet you will plunge me in the ditch. My own clothes shall abhor me.

Is it good to you that you should oppress, that you should despise the work of your hands, and smile on the counsel of the wicked?

Although you know that I am not wicked, there is no one who can deliver out of your hand.

"'Your hands have framed me and fashioned me altogether, yet you destroy me.

Haven't you poured me out like milk, and curdled me like cheese?

Yet you hid these things in your heart. I know that this is with you:

"'Why, then, have you brought me forth out of the womb? I wish I had given up the spirit, and no eye had seen me.

They are high as heaven. What can you do? They are deeper than Sheol. What can you know?

For he knows false men. He sees iniquity also, even though he doesn't consider it.

"If you set your heart aright, stretch out your hands toward him.

If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away. Do not let unrighteousness dwell in your tents.

for you shall forget your misery. You shall remember it as waters that are passed away.

Life shall be clearer than the noonday. Though there is darkness, it shall be as the morning.

In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune. It is ready for them whose foot slips.

Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you. The fish of the sea shall declare to you.

Behold, he breaks down, and it can't be built again. He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.

Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up. Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.

He uncovers deep things out of darkness, and brings out to light the shadow of death.

"Behold, my eye has seen all this. My ear has heard and understood it.

What you know, I know also. I am not inferior to you.

Is it good that he should search you out? Or as one deceives a man, will you deceive him?

"Be silent, leave me alone, that I may speak. Let come on me what will.

Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.

"For there is hope for a tree, If it is cut down, that it will sprout again, that the tender branch of it will not cease.

yet through the scent of water it will bud, and put forth boughs like a plant.

so man lies down and doesn't rise. Until the heavens are no more, they shall not awake, nor be roused out of their sleep.

If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my warfare would I wait, until my release should come.

"But the mountain falling comes to nothing. The rock is removed out of its place;

The waters wear the stones. The torrents of it wash away the dust of the earth. So you destroy the hope of man.

His sons come to honor, and he doesn't know it. They are brought low, but he doesn't perceive it of them.

What do you know, that we do not know? What do you understand, which is not in us?

That you turn your spirit against God, and let such words go out of your mouth?

What is man, that he should be clean? What is he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

(Which wise men have told by their fathers, and have not hidden it;

He doesn't believe that he shall return out of darkness. He is waited for by the sword.

He wanders abroad for bread, saying, 'Where is it?' He knows that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.

Because he has stretched out his hand against God, and behaves himself proudly against Shaddai;

he runs at him with a stiff neck, with the thick shields of his bucklers;

He shall not depart out of darkness. The flame shall dry up his branches. By the breath of God's mouth shall he go away.

It shall be accomplished before his time. His branch shall not be green.

Shall vain words have an end? Or what provokes you that you answer?

I also could speak as you do. If your soul were in my soul's place, I could join words together against you, and shake my head at you,

"Though I speak, my grief is not subsided. Though I forbear, what am I eased?

But now, God, you have surely worn me out. You have made desolate all my company.

You have shriveled me up. This is a witness against me. My leanness rises up against me. It testifies to my face.

I was at ease, and he broke me apart. Yes, he has taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces. He has also set me up for his target.

His archers surround me. He splits my kidneys apart, and does not spare. He pours out my gall on the ground.

My friends scoff at me. My eyes pour out tears to God,

Upright men shall be astonished at this. The innocent shall stir up himself against the godless.