Thinkest thou it well done, to oppress me, to cast me off - being a work of thine hands - and to maintain the counsel of the ungodly?

Whereas, notwithstanding, thou knowest that I am no wicked person, and that there is no man able to deliver me out of thine hand.

Hast thou not turned me, as it were milk: and turned me to cruddes like cheese?

If they had carried me to my grave as soon as I was born, then should I be now, as though I had never been.

Shall not my short life come so soon to an end? O hold thee from me, let me alone, that I may ease myself a little

before I go thither, from whence I shall not turn again. Namely, to that land of darkness and shadow of death:

Should men give ear unto thee only? Thou wilt laugh other men to scorn; and shall nobody mock thee again?

"Wilt thou find out God with thy seeking? Wilt thou attain to the perfectness of the Almighty?

He is higher than heaven; what wilt thou do? Deeper than hell; how wilt thou then know him?

Then mightest thou lift up thy face without shame! Then shouldest thou be sure, and have no need to fear.

Then should the residue of thy life be as clear as the noon day, and spring forth as the morning.

Then shouldest thou take thy rest, and no man to make thee afraid, yea many one should set much by thee.

Thus, he that calleth upon God, and whom God heareth, is mocked of his neighbour; the godly and innocent man is laughed to scorn.

Godliness is a light despised in the hearts of the rich, and is set for them to stumble upon.

Speak to the earth, and it shall show thee; or to the fishes of the sea, and they shall certify thee.

"Look: what lieth hid in darkness, he declareth it openly! And the very shadow of death bringeth he to light!

He both increaseth the people and destroyeth them; He maketh them to multiply, and driveth them away.

and grope in the dark without light, staggering to and fro like drunken men.

Look what ye know, that same do I know also, neither am I inferior unto you.

Nevertheless I am purposed to talk with the almighty, and my desire is to commune with God.

Shall that help you, when he calleth you to reckoning? Think ye to beguile him, as a man is beguiled?

He shall punish you, and reprove you, if ye do secretly accept any person.

Your remembrance shall be like unto the dust, and your pride shall be turned to clay.

Wherefore do I bear my flesh in my teeth, and put my soul in my hands?

What is he that will go to law with me? For if I hold my tongue, I shall die.

Nevertheless, grant me two things, and then will I not hide myself from thee.

And then send for me to the law, that I may answer for myself: or else, let me speak, and give thou the answer.

For thou layest sharply to my charge, and punisheth me, for the sins of my youth.

Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live, and is full of divers miseries.

The days of man are short, the number of his months are known only to thee. Thou hast appointed him his bounds; he cannot go beyond them.

Go from him, that he may rest until his day come: which he looketh for, like as a hireling doth.

O that thou wouldest keep me, and hide me in the hell, until thy wrath were stilled: and to appoint me a time, wherein thou mightest remember me.

"For thou hast numbered all my goings, yet be not thou too extreme upon my sins.

Whether his children come to worship or no, he cannot tell: And if they be men of low degree, he knoweth not.

Thou reprovest with words, that are worth nothing; and speakest the things which can do no good!

Hast thou heard the secret counsel of God, that all wisdom is too little for thee?

What is man, that he should be clean? What hath he, which is born of a woman, whereby he might be known to be righteous?

He believeth never to be delivered out of darkness; the sword is always before his eyes.

When he goeth forth to get his living, he thinketh plainly, that the day of darkness is at hand.

Sorrow and carefulness make him afraid, and compass him round about, like as it where a king with his host ready to the battle.

He will never apply himself to faithfulness and truth, so sore is he deceived with vanity.

For the congregation of hypocrites is unfruitful, and the fire shall consume the houses of such as are greedy to receive gifts.

Shall not thy vain words come yet to an end? Or, hast thou yet any more to say?

I could speak as ye do also. But would God, that your soul were in my soul's stead: then should I heap up words against you, and shake my head at you.

"But what shall I do? For all my words, my sorrow will not cease: and though I hold my tongue, yet will it not depart from me.

God hath given me over to the ungodly, and delivered me into the hands of the wicked.

I was some time in wealth, but suddenly hath he brought me to naught. He hath taken me by the neck, he hath rent me, and set me, as it were a mark for him to shoot at.

My friends laugh me to scorn, but mine eye poureth out tears unto God.

O deliver me and set me by thee: who shall then be able to thrust my hands together?

changing the night into day, and the light into darkness.

"Fearfulness shall make him afraid on every side, that he shall not know where to get out.

Lo, ten times have ye reproved me: are ye not ashamed, for to laugh me to scorn?

If I go wrong, I go wrong to myself.

But if ye will enhance yourselves against me, and accuse me to be a wicked person because of the shame that is come upon me;

Behold: though I cry, yet violence is done unto me. I cannot be heard! Though I complain, there is none to give sentence with me.

Mine own wife may not abide my breath, I was fain to speak fair for the children of mine own body.

My bone hangeth to my skin, and my flesh is away; there is left me only the skin about my teeth.

Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied of my flesh?

"For I am sure that my redeemer liveth, and that I shall rise out of the earth in the latter day:

"For the same cause do my thoughts compel me to answer. And why? My mind is tossed here and there.

I have sufficiently heard thy checking and reproof; therefore am I purposed to make answer after mine understanding.

Though he be magnified up to the heaven, so that his head reacheth into the clouds:

"His children shall be fain to agree with the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods.

The bread that he did eat is turned to the poison of serpents, within his body.

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:

There shall no darkness be able to hide him. An unkindled fire shall consume him; and look, what remaineth in his house, it shall be destroyed.

The substance that he hath in his house, shall be taken away and perish, in the day of the LORD's wrath.

Suffer me a little, that I may speak also, and then laugh my words to scorn, if ye will.

"Wherefore do wicked men live in health and prosperity, come to their old age, and increase in riches?

They spend their days in wealthiness: but suddenly, they go down to hell.

What manner of fellow is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What profit should we have, to submit ourselves unto him?'

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

that the wicked is kept unto the day of destruction, and that the ungodly shall be brought forth in the day of wrath.

Who dare reprove him for his ways to his face? Who rewardeth him for the ungraciousness that he doth?

Yet shall he be brought to his grave, and dwell among the heap of the dead.

Then shall he be fain to be buried among the stones by the brookside. All men must follow him, and there are innumerable gone before him.

How vain, then, is the comfort that ye give me? Are not your answers clean contrary to right and truth?"

Is it any advantage to the Almighty that thou art righteous? Or what doth it profit him, that thy ways are perfect?

Is he afraid to reprove thee, and to step forth with thee into judgment?

To such as were weary, hast thou given no water to drink, and thou hast withdrawn bread from the hungry.

which said unto God, 'Go from us.' And what did the Almighty do with them?

For if thou wilt turn to the Almighty, thou shalt stand fast, and all unrighteousness shall be far from thy dwelling:

Then, look what thou takest in hand: he shall make it to prosper with thee, and the light shall shine in thy ways.

"My saying is yet this day in bitterness, and my hand heavy among my groanings.

to plead my cause before him, and to fill my mouth with arguments:

If I go on the left side to ponder his works, I can not attain unto them. Again, if I go on the rightside, he hideth himself, that I cannot see him.

"It is he, himself, alone. Who will turn him back? He doth as him listeth, and bringeth to pass what he will.

Behold, even as the wild asses in the desert go they forth to their work, and rise betimes to spoil: Yea, the very wilderness ministereth food for them and their children. by times, as their manner is, to spoil: Yea the very wilderness ministereth food for their children.

They are the cause that so many men are naked and bare, having no clothes to cover them and keep them from cold;

So that when the showers in the mountains have rained upon them, and they be all wet, they have none other succour, but to embrace the rock for want of a covering.

The poor are fain to labour in their oil mills, yea and to tread in their wine presses, and yet to suffer thirst.

whereas they, notwithstanding, are rebellious and disobedient enemies: which seek not his light and way, nor turn again in to his path.

Timely in the morning do they arise, to murder the simple and poor, and in the night they go a stealing.

For as soon as the day breaketh, the shadow of death cometh upon them, and they go in horrible darkness.

"The ungodly is very swift: O that his portion also upon earth were swifter than the running water, which suffereth not the shipman to behold the fair and pleasant vineyards.

O that they, for the wickedness which they have done, were drawn to the hell, sooner than snow melteth at the heat.

For they maintain the barren, and make them that they cannot bear, and unto widows they do no good.

They are exalted for a little, but shortly are they gone, brought to extreme poverty, and taken out of the way: yea, and utterly plucked off, as the ears of corn.

Behold, the Moon shineth nothing in comparison to him, and the stars are unclean in his sight.