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?

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.

Am I a sea, or a sea-beast, that you put a watch over me?

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

What is man, that you have made him great, and that your attention is fixed on him,

And that your hand is on him every morning, and that you are testing him every minute?

How long will it be before your eyes are turned away from me, so that I may have a minute's breathing-space?

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?

How long will you say these things, and how long will the words of your mouth be like a strong wind?

Does God give wrong decisions? or is the Ruler of all not upright in his judging?

If your children have done evil against him, then their punishment is from his hand.

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

If you are clean and upright; then he will certainly be moved to take up your cause, and will make clear your righteousness by building up your house again.

And though your start was small, your end will be very great.

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

His roots are twisted round the stones, forcing their way in between them.

The time will come when your mouth will be full of laughing, and cries of joy will come from your lips.

Your haters will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the sinner will not be seen again.

Who is moving the earth out of its place, so that its pillars are shaking:

By whose hand the heavens were stretched out, and who is walking on the waves of the sea:

If he puts out his hand to take, by whom may it be turned back? who may say to him, What are you doing?

God's wrath may not be turned back; the helpers of Rahab were bent down under him.

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.

The land is given into the power of the evil-doer; the faces of its judges are covered; if not by him, then who has done it?

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

What profit is it to you to be cruel, to give up the work of your hands, looking kindly on the design of evil-doers?

Have you eyes of flesh, or do you see as man sees?

Are your days as the days of man, or your years like his,

Though you see that I am not an evil-doer; and there is no one who is able to take a man out of your hands?

Your hands made me, and I was formed by you, but then, changing your purpose, you gave me up to destruction.

You have been kind to me, and your grace has been with me, and your care has kept my spirit safe.

But you kept these things in the secret of your heart; I am certain this was in your thoughts:

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

That you would send new witnesses against me, increasing your wrath against me, and letting loose new armies on me.

Are not the days of my life small in number? Let your eyes be turned away from me, so that I may have a little pleasure,

Before I go to the place from which I will not come back, to the land where all is dark and black,

A land of thick dark, without order, where the very light is dark.

Are all these words to go unanswered? and is a man seen to be right because he is full of talk?

Are your words of pride to make men keep quiet? and are you to make sport, with no one to put you to shame?

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

Are you able to take God's measure, to make discovery of the limits of the Ruler of all?

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.

But if you put your heart right, stretching out your hands to him;

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:

And your life will be brighter than day; though it is dark, it will become like the morning.

And you will be safe because there is hope; after looking round, you will take your rest in quiet;

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.

There is wealth in the tents of those who make destruction, and those by whom God is moved to wrath are safe; even those whose god is their strength.

But put now a question to the beasts, and get teaching from them; or to the birds of the heaven, and they will make it clear to you;

Or to the things which go flat on the earth, and they will give you wisdom; and the fishes of the sea will give you news of it.

Are not words tested by the ear, even as food is tasted by the mouth?

With him there is wisdom and strength; power and knowledge are his.

Truly, he keeps back the waters and they are dry; he sends them out and the earth is overturned.

With him are strength and wise designs; he who is guided into error, together with his guide, are in his hands;

He takes away the wisdom of the rulers of the earth, and sends them wandering in a waste where there is no way.

Truly, my eye has seen all this, word of it has come to my ear, and I have knowledge of it.

The same things are in my mind as in yours; I am equal to you.

But you put a false face on things; all your attempts to put things right are of no value.

Give ear to the argument of my mouth, and take note of the words of my lips.

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?

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

Your wise sayings are only dust, and your strong places are only earth.

Give ear with care to my words, and keep what I say in your minds.

Only two things do not do to me, then I will come before your face:

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.

Why is your face veiled from me, as if I was numbered among your haters?

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.

Is it on such a one as this that your eyes are fixed, with the purpose of judging him?

If his days are ordered, and you have knowledge of the number of his months, having given him a fixed limit past which he may not go;

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.

But man comes to his death and is gone: he gives up his spirit, and where is he?

So man goes down to his last resting-place and comes not again: till the heavens come to an end, they will not be awake or come out of their sleep.

If only you would keep me safe in the underworld, putting me in a secret place till your wrath is past, giving me a fixed time when I might come to your memory again!

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.

The stones are crushed small by the force of the waters; the dust of the earth is washed away by their overflowing: and so you put an end to the hope of man.

His sons come to honour, and he has no knowledge of it; they are made low, but he is not conscious of it.

Will a wise man make answer with knowledge of no value, or will he give birth to the east wind?

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.

It is by your mouth, even yours, that you are judged to be in the wrong, and not by me; and your lips give witness against you.

Were you the first man to come into the world? or did you come into being before the hills?

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

What knowledge have you which we have not? is there anything in your mind which is not in ours?

With us are men who are grey-haired and full of years, much older than your father.

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

Why is your heart uncontrolled, and why are your eyes lifted up;

So that you are turning your spirit against God, and letting such words go out of your mouth?

Truly, he puts no faith in his holy ones, and the heavens are not clean in his eyes;

Take note and give ear to my words; and I will say what I have seen:

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