His sons are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate. Neither is there any to deliver them,

but man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward.

But as for me, I would seek to God. And to God I would commit my cause,

so that he sets up on high those who are low, and those who mourn are exalted to safety.

Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects. Therefore do not despise thou the chastening of the Almighty.

Thou shall come to thy grave in a full age, like a shock of grain comes in its season.

My soul refuses to touch [them]. They are as loathsome food to me.

Even that it would please God to crush me, that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!

To him who is ready to faint, kindness [should be] from his friend, even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

They were put to shame because they had hoped. They came there, and were confounded.

Did I say, Give to me? Or, Offer a present for me from your substance?

Teach me, and I will be quiet. And cause me to understand how I have erred.

Do ye think to reprove words, seeing that the speeches of a man who is desperate are as wind?

Now therefore be pleased to look upon me, for truly I shall not lie to your face.

Is there not a warfare to man upon earth? And are not his days like the days of a hireling?

so I am made to possess months of misery, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.

When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? And I am full of tossing to and fro to the dawning of the day.

As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he who goes down to Sheol shall come up no more.

He shall return no more to his house, nor shall his place know him any more.

If I have sinned, what do I do to thee, O thou watcher of men? Why have thou set me as a mark for thee, so that I am a burden to myself?

And why do thou not pardon my transgression, and take away my iniquity? For now I shall lay down in the dust, and thou will seek me diligently, but I shall not be.

if thou would seek diligently to God, and make thy supplication to the Almighty,

For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and apply thyself to that which their fathers have searched out

If he is pleased to contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand.

[He] who removes the mountains, and they do not know it when he overturns them in his anger,

Lo, he goes by me, and I do not see him. He also passes on, but I do not perceive him.

Behold, he seizes; who can hinder him? Who will say to him, What are thou doing?

How much less shall I answer him, and choose out my words [to reason] with him?

Whom, though I were righteous, yet I would not answer. I would make supplication to my judge.

If I had called, and he had answered me, yet I would not believe that he hearkened to my voice.

He will not allow me to take my breath, but fills me with bitterness.

Though I were perfect, I do not regard myself. I despise my life.

I shall be condemned. Why then do I labor in vain?

My soul is weary of my life. I will give free reign to my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

I will say to God, Do not condemn me. Show me why thou contend with me.

Is it good to thee that thou should oppress, that thou should despise the work of thy hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?

Have thou eyes of flesh? Or do thou see as man sees?

If I be wicked, woe to me. And if I be righteous, yet I shall not lift up my head, being filled with shame, and looking upon my affliction.

I should have been as though I had not been. I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.

before I go where I shall not return, to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death,

Can thou find out God by searching? Can thou find out the Almighty to perfection?

It is high as heaven; what can thou do? Deeper than Sheol; what can thou know?

If he passes through, and shuts up, and all to judgment, then who can hinder him?

But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall have no way to flee. And their hope shall be the giving up of the spirit.

No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.

But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Yes, who does not know such things as these?

I am as a man who is a laughing-stock to his neighbor. I who called upon God, and he answered. The just, the perfect man is a laughing-stock.

Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee, and the fishes of the sea shall declare to thee.

He uncovers deep things out of darkness, and brings out to light the shadow of death.

He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth, and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.

They grope in the dark without light, and he makes them to stagger like a drunken man.

What ye know, I also know; I am not inferior to you.

Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God.

Hear now my reasoning, and hearken to the pleadings of my lips.

Will ye show partiality to him? Will ye contend for God?

Only do not do two things to me, then I will not hide myself from thy face:

Withdraw thy hand far from me, and do not let thy dread make me afraid.

How many are my iniquities and sins? Make me to know my transgression and my sin.

Why do thou hide thy face, and reckon me for thine enemy?

For thou write bitter things against me, and make me to inherit the iniquities of my youth.

Thou also put my feet in the stocks, and mark all my paths. Thou set a bound to the soles of my feet.

He comes forth like a flower, and is cut down. He too flees as a shadow, and does not continue.

And do thou open thine eyes upon such a one, and bring me into judgment with thee?

look away from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as a hireling, his day.

Thou would call, and I would answer thee. Thou would have a desire to the work of thy hands.

But now thou number my steps. Do thou not watch over my sin?

But the falling mountain comes to nothing, and the rock is removed out of its place.

His sons come to honor, and he does not know it, and they are brought low, but he does not perceive it of them.

Should he reason with unprofitable talk, or with speeches with which he can do no good?

Yea, thou do away with fear, and hinder devotion before God.

Have thou heard the secret counsel of God? And do thou limit wisdom to thyself?

What do thou know, that we do not know? What do thou understand, which is not in us?

Are the consolations of God too small for thee, even the word that is gentle toward thee?

Why does thy heart carry thee away? And why do thine eyes flash,

to whom alone the land was given, and no stranger passed among them:

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

Distress and anguish make him afraid. They prevail against him as a king ready to the battle.

And he has dwelt in desolate cities, in houses which no man inhabited, which were ready to become heaps.

I also could speak as ye do, if your soul were in my soul's stead. I could join words together against you, and shake my head at you.

And thou have laid fast hold on me, [which] is a witness [against me]. And my leanness rises up against me; it testifies to my face.

God delivers me to the perverse, and casts me into the hands of the wicked.

I was at ease, and he broke me apart. Yea, he has taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces. He has also set me up for his mark.

O earth, do not cover thou my blood, and let my cry have no [resting] place.

My friends scoff at me. My eye pours out tears to God

They change the night into day. The light, [they say], is near to the darkness.

if I have said to corruption, Thou are my father, to the worm, My mother, and my sister,

It shall go down to the bars of Sheol when once there is rest in the dust.

He shall be rooted out of his tent where he trusts, and he shall be brought to the king of terrors.

Those who come after shall be astonished at his day, as those who went before were frightened.

He has also kindled his wrath against me. And he considers me to him as his adversaries.

I call to my servant, and he gives me no answer. I entreat him with my mouth.

My breath is strange to my wife, and my supplication to the sons of my own mother.

My bone cleaves to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped with the skin of my teeth.

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

Therefore my thoughts cause me to answer, even because of my haste that is in me.

I have heard the reproof which puts me to shame, and the spirit of my understanding answers me.

Though his height mounts up to the heavens, and his head reaches to the clouds,

That which he labored for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down. According to the substance that he has gotten, he shall not rejoice.

When he is about to fill his belly, [God] will cast the fierceness of his wrath upon him, and will rain it upon him while he is eating.

The increase of his house shall depart, flowed away in the day of his wrath.