Lo, my eye has seen all this, my ear has heard and understood it.

What you know, I know also; I do not fall short of you.

Oh that you would stop speaking entirely! And it would be your wisdom.

Is it good that He should search you out? Or as one man mocks another, do you mock Him?

Be quiet. Let me alone so that I may speak, and let come on me what may.

Though he slay me, I will not wait, but I will maintain my own ways before Him.

Listen carefully to my words, and let what I say be in your ears.

And he wears out like a rotten thing, like a garment that a moth eats.

Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one!

For there is hope of a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and its tender branch will not cease.

yet at the scent of water it will bud and bring forth branches like a plant.

so man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more, they shall not awake, nor be awakened out of their sleep.

If a man die, shall he revive? All the days of my warfare I will wait, until my change comes.

And surely a falling mountain crumbles away, and the rock moves out of its place.

The waters wear away the stones; the outpouring of it washes the dust of the earth; and You cause the hope of man to perish.

His sons come to honor, and he knows it not; they fall, but he does not mark it.

What do you know that we do not know, or understand that is not with us?

Why does your heart carry you away? And what do your eyes wink at,

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

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

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

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

because he stretches out his hand against God, and sets himself against the Almighty.

He runs at him, with a stiff neck, with the thick layers of his shields,

He shall not be rich, nor shall his wealth hold out, nor shall he stretch out his gain on the earth.

He shall not escape from darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and at the breath of his mouth he shall turn away.

It shall be done before his time, and his branch shall not be green.

Shall words of wind have an end? Or what provokes you that you should answer?

I also could speak as you do; if your soul were in my soul's place. I could heap up words against you, and shake my head at you.

Though I speak, my pain is not held back, and though I forbear, in what way am I eased?

And You have plucked me, for it is a witness, and my failure rises up against me, and it answers to my face.

His anger has torn and hated me; He gnashes on me with His teeth; my enemy sharpens his eyes at me;

I was at ease, but He has broken me in pieces; yea, He has also taken me by my neck and shaken me to pieces and set me up for His mark.

His archers hem me in; He splits my inward parts, and does not spare; He pours out my gall on the ground.

My friends scorn me; my eye pours out tears to God.

Upright ones shall be amazed at this, and the innocent shall stir himself up against the ungodly.

If I wait for the grave as my home, I have made my bed in the darkness;

And where then is my hope? And as for my hope, who shall see it?

He tears himself in his anger; shall the earth be forsaken for you? And shall the rock be moved out of its place?

Yes, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.

The light shall be dark in his tent, and his lamp shall be put out with him.

Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall dash him at his feet.

His strength shall be hunger-bitten, and trouble shall be ready at his side.

It shall devour the parts of his skin; the first-born of death consumes his parts.

His hope shall be rooted out of his tent, and you marched to the king of terrors.

What is not his shall dwell in his tent; brimstone shall be scattered on his home.

Those after him shall be amazed at his day; and those before were seized with horror.

Behold, I cry out, Violence! And I am not answered. I cry aloud, but there is no justice.

For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall rise on the earth at the last;

and even after they corrupt my skin, yet this: in my flesh I shall see God,

His bones are full of his youthful vigor, but it lies down with him in the dust.

Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth, though he hides it under his tongue;

though he spares it and will not leave it; yea, keeps it still in his mouth;

yet his food in his belly shall be turned; the gall of asps is within him.

He swallows riches, but vomits it; God shall cast them out of his belly.

giving back his gain, and he will not eat. As to the wealth of his trading, even he shall not enjoy it.

For he pressed down and forsook the poor; he stole a house, but he had not built it.

It shall happen at the filling of his belly, God shall cast the fury of His wrath on him, and He shall rain on him while he is eating.

One draws it, and treads it from behind, even lightning from his gall; terror is on him.

They lift up voice at the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the flute.

what is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? And what profit should we have if we pray to Him?

How often is the lamp of the wicked put out, and their trouble comes on them! He shares out pains in His anger;

For what is his pleasure in his house after him, and the number of his months is cut off?

One dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet.

His sides are full of milk, his bones are wet with marrow.

Who shall declare his way to his face? And who shall repay him what he has done?

Yet he shall be brought to the grave, and watch shall be kept over his tomb.

Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous, or gain to Him that you make your ways perfect?

But as for the mighty man, he had the earth, and the honored man lived in it.

And you say, What does God know? Can He judge through the dark cloud?

They were seized, but there was not time; their foundation was poured out by a flood;

who said to God, Depart from us; and, What can the Almighty do to them?

Yet He filled their houses with substance; and the wisdom of the wicked is far from me.

The righteous see it, and are glad; and the innocent laugh them to scorn.

Now be of service with Him, and be at peace. Good shall come to you by them.

You shall also order a thing, and it shall be fulfilled to you; and the light shall shine on your ways.

I would know the words which He would answer me, and understand what He would say to me.

But He is in one mind, and who can turn Him? Yea, what His soul desires, He does it.

Therefore I am troubled at His presence; when I look, I am afraid of Him.

They drive away the ass of the fatherless; they take the widow's ox for a pledge.

They turn the needy out of the way; the poor of the earth hide themselves together.

They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for lack of shelter.

They press out oil between their walls; they tread their winepresses, and still suffer thirst.

Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded cries for help; yet God does not charge foolishness.

Drought and heat eat up the snow waters; so does the grave those who have sinned.

He ill-treats the women who bear no children; and does no good to the widow.

He gives safety to him, and he rests on it; yet His eyes are on their ways.

And if it is not so, who will make me a liar, and make my speech worth nothing?

Look even to the moon, and it shines not; yea, the stars are not pure in His sight;

He stretches out the north over the empty place, and He hung the earth on nothing.

He covers the face of His throne, spreading His cloud on it.

The pillars of the heavens tremble and are astonished at His rebuke.

Lo, these are the edges of His ways; but what a whisper of a word we hear of Him! And the thunder of His power who can understand?

Far be it from me that I should justify you; until I die I will not retract my integrity from me.

I hold fast by my righteousness, and I will not let it go; my heart shall not shame me any of my days.

For what is the hope of the ungodly when He cuts off, when God takes away his soul?

Behold, all you have seen it yourselves; why then do you become completely vain?

he may prepare, but the just shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver.

The east wind lifts him up, and he is gone; for it whirls him out of his place.

For it will hurl at him, and will not spare; he will surely flee out of its hand.