Is it good to you that you should oppress, that you should despise the work of your hands, and smile on the counsel of the wicked?

Do you have eyes of flesh? Or do you see as man sees?

Haven't you poured me out like milk, and curdled me like cheese?

If I am wicked, woe to me. If I am righteous, I still shall not lift up my head, being filled with disgrace, and conscious of my affliction.

If my head is held high, you hunt me like a lion. Again you show yourself powerful to me.

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

Aren't my days few? Cease then. Leave me alone, that I may find a little comfort,

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

"Shouldn't the multitude of words be answered? Should a man full of talk be justified?

that he would show you the secrets of wisdom! For true wisdom has two sides. Know therefore that God exacts of you less than your iniquity deserves.

They are high as heaven. What can you do? They are deeper than Sheol. What can you know?

For he knows false men. He sees iniquity also, even though he doesn't consider it.

If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away. Don't let unrighteousness dwell in your tents.

But the eyes of the wicked shall fail. They shall have no way to flee. Their hope shall be the giving up of the spirit."

"No doubt, but you 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 doesn't know such things as these?

I am like one who is a joke to his neighbor, I, who called on God, and he answered. The just, the blameless man is a joke.

Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you. The fish of the sea shall declare to you.

Who doesn't know that in all these, the hand of Yahweh has done this,

Doesn't the ear try words, even as the palate tastes its food?

Behold, he breaks down, and it can't be built again. He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.

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.

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

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

Hear now my reasoning. Listen to the pleadings of my lips.

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

"Only don't do two things to me; then I will not hide myself from your face:

withdraw your hand far from me; and don't let your terror make me afraid.

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

He comes forth like a flower, and is cut down. He also flees like a shadow, and doesn't continue.

Do you open your eyes on such a one, and bring me into judgment with you?

Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his bounds that he can't pass;

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

so man lies down and doesn't rise. Until the heavens are no more, they shall not awake, nor be roused out of their sleep.

You would call, and I would answer you. You would have a desire to the work of your hands.

But now you number my steps. Don't you watch over my sin?

"But the mountain falling comes to nothing. The rock is removed out of its place;

His sons come to honor, and he doesn't know it. They are brought low, but he doesn't perceive it of them.

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

Yes, you do away with fear, and hinder devotion before God.

Have you heard the secret counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?

What do you know, that we don't know? What do you understand, which is not in us?

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

Why does your heart carry you away? Why do your eyes flash,

"I will show you, listen to me; that which I have seen I will declare:

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

He doesn't believe that he shall return out of darkness. He is waited for by the sword.

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.

He has lived in desolate cities, in houses which no one inhabited, which were ready to become heaps.

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

You have shriveled me up. This is a witness against me. My leanness rises up against me. It testifies to my face.

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

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

"Earth, don't cover my blood. Let my cry have no place to rest.

My friends scoff at me. My eyes pour out tears to God,

They change the night into day, saying 'The light is near' in the presence of darkness.

If I have said to corruption, 'You are my father;' to the worm, 'My mother,' and 'my sister;'

Shall it go down with me to the gates of Sheol, or descend together into the dust?"

He shall be rooted out of his tent where he trusts. 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.

Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous. This is the place of him who doesn't know God."

You have reproached me ten times. You aren't ashamed that you attack me.

He has walled up my way so that I can't pass, and has set darkness in my paths.

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

My breath is offensive to my wife. I am loathsome to the children of my own mother.

My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh. I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

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

"Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me, even by reason of my haste that is in me.

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

Don't you know this from old time, since man was placed on earth,

Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds,

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

There was nothing left that he didn't devour, therefore his prosperity shall not endure.

When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fierceness of his wrath on him. It will rain on him while he is eating.

The increase of his house shall depart. They shall rush away in the day of his wrath.

This is the portion of a wicked man from God, the heritage appointed to him by God."

"Listen diligently to my speech. Let this be your consolation.

As for me, is my complaint to man? Why shouldn't I be impatient?

"Why do the wicked live, become old, yes, and grow mighty in power?

Their bulls breed without fail. Their cows calve, and don't miscarry.

They sing to the tambourine and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe.

They spend their days in prosperity. In an instant they go down to Sheol.

They tell God, 'Depart from us, for we don't want to know about your ways.

What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What profit should we have, if we pray to him?'

You say, 'God lays up his iniquity for his children.' Let him recompense it to himself, that he may know it.

Haven't you asked wayfaring men? Don't you know their evidences,

that the evil man is reserved to the day of calamity, That they are led forth to the day of wrath?

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

Yet he will be borne to the grave. Men shall keep watch over the tomb.

The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him. All men shall draw after him, as there were innumerable before him.

"Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.

Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that you are righteous? Or does it benefit him, that you make your ways perfect?

Isn't your wickedness great? Neither is there any end to your iniquities.

You haven't given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.

"Isn't God in the heights of heaven? See the height of the stars, how high they are!

Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he doesn't see. He walks on the vault of the sky.'

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

"Acquaint yourself with him, now, and be at peace. Thereby good shall come to you.