Or, Get me out of the power of my hater? or, Give money so that I may be free from the power of the cruel ones?

My words may seem wrong to you, but the words of him who has no hope are for the wind.

Now then, let your eyes be turned to me, for truly I will not say what is false to your face.

Let your minds be changed, and do not have an evil opinion of me; yes, be changed, for my righteousness is still in me.

Has not man his ordered time of trouble on the earth? and are not his days like the days of a servant working for payment?

As a servant desiring the shades of evening, and a workman looking for his payment:

So I have for my heritage months of pain to no purpose, and nights of weariness are given to me.

The eye of him who sees me will see me no longer: your eyes will be looking for me, but I will be gone.

Then you send dreams to me, and visions of fear;

I have no desire for life, I would not be living for ever! Keep away from me, for my days are as a breath.

If I have done wrong, what have I done to you, O keeper of men? why have you made me a mark for your blows, so that I am a weariness to myself?

And why do you not take away my sin, and let my wrongdoing be ended? for now I go down to the dust, and you will be searching for me with care, but I will be gone.

If you will make search for God with care, and put your request before the Ruler of all;

(For we are but of yesterday, and have no knowledge, because our days on earth are gone like a shade:)

He is looking to his family for support, but it is not there; he puts his hope in it, but it comes to nothing.

Truly, I see that it is so: and how is it possible for a man to get his right before God?

Even if my cause was good, I would not be able to give an answer; I would make request for grace from him who was against me.

If I had sent for him to be present, and he had come, I would have no faith that he would give ear to my voice.

For I would be crushed by his storm, my wounds would be increased without cause.

I have done no wrong; I give no thought to what becomes of me; I have no desire for life.

I go in fear of all my pains; I am certain that I will not be free from sin in your eyes.

You will not let me be clear of sin! why then do I take trouble for nothing?

For he is not a man as I am, that I might give him an answer, that we might come together before a judge.

Let him take away his rod from me and not send his fear on me:

Then I would say what is in my mind without fear of him; for there is no cause of fear in myself.

My soul is tired of life; I will let my sad thoughts go free in words; my soul will make a bitter outcry.

And that if there was cause for pride, you would go after me like a lion; and again put out your wonders against me:

Why then did you make me come out of my mother's body? It would have been better for me to have taken my last breath, and for no eye to have seen me,

And for me to have been as if I had not been; to have been taken from my mother's body straight to my last resting-place.

You may say, My way is clean, and I am free from sin in your eyes.

They are higher than heaven; what is there for you to do? deeper than the underworld, and outside your knowledge;

For in his eyes men are as nothing; he sees evil and takes note of it.

If you put far away the evil of your hands, and let no wrongdoing have a place in your tent;

Then truly your face will be lifted up, with no mark of sin, and you will be fixed in your place without fear:

For your sorrow will go from your memory, like waters flowing away:

Sleeping with no fear of danger; and men will be desiring to have grace in your eyes;

In the thought of him who is in comfort there is no respect for one who is in trouble; such is the fate of those whose feet are slipping.

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.

Will not his glory put you in fear, so that your hearts will be overcome before him?

And that will be my salvation, for an evil-doer would not come before him,

Take your hand far away from me; and let me not be overcome by fear of you.

Then at the sound of your voice I will give answer; or let me put forward my cause for you to give me an answer.

For you put bitter things on record against me, and send punishment on me for the sins of my early years;

And you put chains on my feet, watching all my ways, and making a limit for my steps;

Though a man comes to nothing like a bit of dead wood, or like a robe which has become food for the worm.

As for man, the son of woman, his days are short and full of trouble.

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.

For there is hope of a tree; if it is cut down, it will come to life again, and its branches will not come to an end.

If death takes a man, will he come to life again? All the days of my trouble I would be waiting, till the time came for me to be free.

At the sound of your voice I would give an answer, and you would have a desire for the work of your hands.

For now my steps are numbered by you, and my sin is not overlooked.

You overcome him for ever, and he is gone; his face is changed in death, and you send him away.

Truly, you make the fear of God without effect, so that the time of quiet worship before God is made less by your outcry.

For your mouth is guided by your sin, and you have taken the tongue of the false for yourself.

Were you present at the secret meeting of God? and have you taken all wisdom for yourself?

Are the comforts of God not enough for you, and the gentle word which was said to you?

For only to them was the land given, and no strange people were among them:)

The evil man is in pain all his days, and the number of the years stored up for the cruel is small.

A sound of fear is in his ears; in time of peace destruction will come on him:

He is wandering about in search of bread, saying, Where is it? and he is certain that the day of trouble is ready for him:

He is greatly in fear of the dark day, trouble and pain overcome him:

Running against him like a man of war, covered by his thick breastplate; even like a king ready for the fight,

He does not get wealth for himself, and is unable to keep what he has got; the heads of his grain are not bent down to the earth.

Let him not put his hope in what is false, falling into error: for he will get deceit as his reward.

For the band of the evil-doers gives no fruit, and the tents of those who give wrong decisions for reward are burned with fire.

Evil has made them with child, and they give birth to trouble; and the fruit of their body is shame for themselves.

It would not be hard for me to say such things if your souls were in my soul's place; joining words together against you, and shaking my head at you:

But now he has overcome me with weariness and fear, and I am in the grip of all my trouble.

I was in comfort, but I have been broken up by his hands; he has taken me by the neck, shaking me to bits; he has put me up as a mark for his arrows.

So that he may give decision for a man in his cause with God, and between a son of man and his neighbour.

For in a short time I will take the journey from which I will not come back.

My spirit is broken, my days are ended, the last resting-place is ready for me.

Be pleased, now, to be responsible for me to yourself; for there is no other who will put his hand in mine.

You have kept their hearts from wisdom: for this cause you will not give them honour.

As for him who is false to his friend for a reward, light will be cut off from the eyes of his children.

He has made me a word of shame to the peoples; I have become a mark for their sport.

If I am waiting for the underworld as my house, if I have made my bed in the dark;

For the light of the sinner is put out, and the flame of his fire is not shining.

His strength is made feeble for need of food, and destruction is waiting for his falling footstep.

His skin is wasted by disease, and his body is food for the worst of diseases.

At his fate those of the west are shocked, and those of the east are overcome with fear.

Truly, I make an outcry against the violent man, but there is no answer: I give a cry for help, but no one takes up my cause.

He has taken my brothers far away from me; they have seen my fate and have become strange to me.

Even young children have no respect for me; when I get up their backs are turned on me.

Have pity on me, have pity on me, O my friends! for the hand of God is on me.

Why are you cruel to me, like God, for ever saying evil against me?

And with an iron pen and lead be cut into the rock for ever!

Be in fear of the sword, for the sword is the punishment for such things, so that you may be certain that there is a judge.

For this cause my thoughts are troubling me and driving me on.

That the pride of the sinner is short, and the joy of the evil-doer but for a minute?

Like the waste from his body he comes to an end for ever: those who have seen him say, Where is he?

He is forced to give back the fruit of his work, and may not take it for food; he has no joy in the profit of his trading.

There is no peace for him in his wealth, and no salvation for him in those things in which he took delight.

He had never enough for his desire; for this cause his well-being will quickly come to an end.

Even when his wealth is great, he is full of care, for the hand of everyone who is in trouble is turned against him.

All his wealth is stored up for the dark: a fire not made by man sends destruction on him, and on everything in his tent.

As for me, is my outcry against man? is it then to be wondered at if my spirit is troubled?

At the very thought of it my flesh is shaking with fear.