O that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me,

when his lamp shone upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness,

as I was in the ripeness of my days, when the friendship of God was upon my tent,

when the Almighty was yet with me, and my sons were about me,

when my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured out streams of oil to me,

when I went forth to the gate to the city, when I prepared my seat in the street.

The rulers refrained from talking, and laid their hand on their mouth.

For when the ear heard [me], then it blessed me, and when the eye saw [me], it gave witness to me.

I put on righteousness, and it clothed me. My justice was as a robe and a diadem.

Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand.

My glory is fresh in me, and my bow is renewed in my hand.

I smiled on them when they had no confidence, and they did not cast down the light of my countenance.

I chose out their way, and sat [as] chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as a man who comforts the mourners.

But now those who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.

Yea, the strength of their hands, to what should it profit me? Men in whom ripe age is perished.

They are gaunt with want and famine. They gnaw the dry ground in the gloom of waste and desolation.

so that they dwell in frightful valleys, in holes of the earth and of the rocks.

They abhor me. They stand aloof from me, and do not spare to spit in my face.

As through a wide breach they come. In the midst of the ruin they roll themselves [upon me].

In the night season my bones are pierced in me, and the [pains] that gnaw me take no rest.

Thou lift me up to the wind. Thou cause me to ride [upon it], and thou disintegrate me in the storm.

However does not a man stretch out the hand in his fall? Or in his calamity therefore cry for help?

Did I not weep for him who was in trouble? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?

When I looked for good, then evil came. And when I waited for light, there came darkness.

I go mourning without the sun. I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.

For what is the portion from God above, and the heritage from the Almighty on high?

(let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know my integrity);

For that is a heinous crime, yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges.

If I have despised the case of my man-servant or of my maid-servant when they contended with me,

what then shall I do when God rises up? And when he visits, what shall I answer him?

Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?

if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate,

if I have beheld the sun when it shone, or the moon walking in brightness,

(this also is an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have denied the God that is above);

if I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him

if the men of my tent have not said, Who can find one who has not been filled with his food?

(the sojourner has not lodged in the street, but I have opened my doors to the traveler);

if like Adam I have covered my transgressions by hiding my iniquity in my bosom

So these three men ceased to answer Job because he was righteous in his own eyes.

And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, his anger was kindled.

But there is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives them understanding.

Behold, my breast is as wine which has no vent. Like new wine-skins it is ready to burst.

Behold now, I have opened my mouth. My tongue has spoken in my mouth.

If thou can, answer thou me. Set [thy words] in order before me. Stand forth.

Surely thou have spoken in my hearing, and I have heard the voice of [thy] words, [saying],

I am clean, without transgression. I am innocent, neither is there iniquity in me.

He puts my feet in the stocks. He marks all my paths.

Behold, I will answer thee. In this thou are not just, for God is greater than man.

In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, in slumberings upon the bed.

He also is chastened with pain upon his bed, and with continual strife in his bones,

If there be with him a [heavenly] agent, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show to man what is right for him,

In a moment they die, even at midnight. The people are shaken and pass away, and the mighty are taken away without hand.

For he needs no further to consider a man, that he should go before God in judgment.

He breaks in pieces mighty men [in ways] past finding out, and sets others in their stead.

Therefore he takes knowledge of their works, and he overturns them in the night, so that they are destroyed.

He strikes them as wicked men in the open sight of others

because they turned aside from following him, and would not have regard in any of his ways,

When he gives quietness, who then can condemn? And when he hides his face, who then can behold him? [It is] the same whether to a nation, or to a man,

But surely not. Learn thou Job not to still give an answer like the foolish,

What [is] this thou think in judgment? Who are thou that thou said, I am righteousness before LORD?

But none says, Where is God my maker who gives songs in the night,

Surely God will not hear an empty [cry], nor will the Almighty regard it.

How much less when thou say thou do not behold him. The case is before him, and thou wait for him!

But now, because he has not visited in his anger, nor does he greatly regard folly,

so Job opens his mouth in vanity. He multiplies words without knowledge.

Allow me a little, and I will show thee. For I have yet somewhat to say on God's behalf.

(For truly my words are not false.) He who is perfect in knowledge is with thee.

Behold, God is mighty, and does not despise. He is mighty in strength of understanding.

And if they be bound in fetters, and be taken in the cords of afflictions,

If they hearken and serve [him], they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.

But those who are godless in heart lay up anger. They do not cry for help when he binds them.

They die in youth, and their life [perishes] among the unclean.

He delivers the afflicted by their affliction, and opens their ear in oppression.

Yea, he would have allured thee out of distress into a broad place, where there is no confinement, and that which is set on thy table would be full of fatness.

Will thy cry not avail in distress, or all the forces of strength?

Do not desire the night, when peoples are cut off in their place.

Take heed. Do not turn to iniquity, for thou have fixed on this because of affliction.

Behold, God does loftily in his power. Who is a teacher like him?

All men have looked on it. Man beholds it afar off.

For he draws up the drops of water, which distil in rain from his vapor,

For by these he judges the peoples. he gives food in abundance.

After it a voice roars. He thunders with the voice of his majesty, and he does not restrain [the lightnings] when his voice is heard.

For he says to the snow, Fall thou on the earth, likewise to the shower of rain, and to the showers of his mighty rain.

Then the beasts go into coverts, and remain in their dens.

Do thou know the balancing of the clouds, the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge?

How thy garments are warm when the earth is still because of the south [wind]?

Teach us what we shall say to him. We cannot set in array because of darkness.

And now men do not see the light which is bright in the skies, but the wind passes, and clears them.

[O] the Almighty, we cannot find him out. He is excellent in power. And in justice and abundant righteousness he will not afflict.

Where were thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou have understanding.

when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Or [who] shut up the sea with doors when it broke forth, [like] it had issued out of the womb,

when I made clouds the garment of it, and thick darkness a swaddling-band for it,

Have thou entered into the springs of the sea? Or have thou walked in the recesses of the deep?

Have thou comprehended the earth in its breadth? Declare, if thou know it all.

to cause it to rain on a land where no man is, on the wilderness, in which there is no man,

Can thou lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season? Or can thou guide the Bear with her train?

Do thou know the ordinances of the heavens? Can thou establish the dominion of it on the earth?

Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the mind?

when the dust runs into a mass, and the clods cleave fast together?