If you return to the Almighty, you shall be built up, if you put away unrighteousness far from your tents.

The Almighty will be your treasure, and precious silver to you.

For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty, and shall lift up your face to God.

You shall make your prayer to him, and he will hear you. You shall pay your vows.

You shall also decree a thing, and it shall be established to you. Light shall shine on your ways.

Oh that I knew where I might find him! That I might come even to his seat!

Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No, but he would listen to me.

"If I go east, he is not there; if west, I can't find him;

He works to the north, but I can't see him. He turns south, but I can't catch a glimpse of him.

My foot has held fast to his steps. I have kept his way, and not turned aside.

I haven't gone back from the commandment of his lips. I have treasured up the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

"Why aren't times laid up by the Almighty? Why don't those who know him see his days?

Behold, as wild donkeys in the desert, they go forth to their work, seeking diligently for food. The wilderness yields them bread for their children.

From out of the populous city, men groan. The soul of the wounded cries out, yet God doesn't regard the folly.

"These are of those who rebel against the light. They don't know its ways, nor stay in its paths.

In the dark they dig through houses. They shut themselves up in the daytime. They don't know the light.

For the morning is to all of them like thick darkness, for they know the terrors of the thick darkness.

"They are foam on the surface of the waters. Their portion is cursed in the earth. They don't turn into the way of the vineyards.

He devours the barren who don't bear. He shows no kindness to the widow.

If it isn't so now, who will prove me a liar, and make my speech worth nothing?"

To whom have you uttered words? Whose spirit came forth from you?

He has described a boundary on the surface of the waters, and to the confines of light and darkness.

Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways. How small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?"

Far be it from me that I should justify you. Until I die I will not put away my integrity from me.

I hold fast to my righteousness, and will not let it go. My heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.

He lies down rich, but he shall not do so again. He opens his eyes, and he is not.

Man sets an end to darkness, and searches out, to the furthest bound, the stones of obscurity and of thick darkness.

He binds the streams that they don't trickle. The thing that is hidden he brings forth to light.

Man doesn't know its price; Neither is it found in the land of the living.

The deep says, 'It isn't in me.' The sea says, 'It isn't with me.'

It can't be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for its price.

It can't be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.

Gold and glass can't equal it, neither shall it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.

For he looks to the ends of the earth, and sees under the whole sky.

To man he said, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. To depart from evil is understanding.'"

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

The voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.

Because I delivered the poor who cried, and the fatherless also, who had none to help him,

the blessing of him who was ready to perish came on me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.

I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame.

I was a father to the needy. The cause of him who I didn't know, I searched out.

Then I said, 'I shall die in my own house, I shall number my days as the sand.

My root is spread out to the waters. The dew lies all night on my branch.

"Men listened to me, waited, and kept silence for my counsel.

After my words they didn't speak again. My speech fell on them.

I smiled on them when they had no confidence. They didn't reject the light of my face.

"But now those who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs.

Of what use is the strength of their hands to me, men in whom ripe age has perished?

"Now I have become their song. Yes, I am a byword to them.

They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, and don't hesitate to spit in my face.

I cry to you, and you do not answer me. I stand up, and you gaze at me.

You have turned to be cruel to me. With the might of your hand you persecute me.

You lift me up to the wind, and drive me with it. You dissolve me in the storm.

For I know that you will bring me to death, To the house appointed for all living.

"However doesn't one stretch out a hand in his fall? Or in his calamity therefore cry for help?

Didn't I weep for him who was in trouble? Wasn't my soul grieved for the needy?

My heart is troubled, and doesn't rest. Days of affliction have come on me.

I am a brother to jackals, and a companion to ostriches.

Therefore my harp has turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of those who weep.

Is it not calamity to the unrighteous, and disaster to the workers of iniquity?

Doesn't he see my ways, and number all my steps?

"If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hurried to deceit

if my step has turned out of the way, if my heart walked after my eyes, if any defilement has stuck to my hands,

"If my heart has been enticed to a woman, and I have laid wait at my neighbor's door,

For that would be a heinous crime. Yes, it would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges:

For it is a fire that consumes to destruction, and would root out all my increase.

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

Didn't he who made me in the womb make him? Didn't one fashion us in the womb?

"If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

if his heart hasn't blessed me, if he hasn't been warmed with my sheep's fleece;

For calamity from God is a terror to me. Because his majesty, I can do nothing.

"If I have made gold my hope, and have said to the fine gold, 'You are my confidence;'

this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges; for I should have denied the God who is above.

(yes, I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse);

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

because I feared the great multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and didn't go out of the door --

oh that I had one to hear me! (behold, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me); let the accuser write my indictment!

Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; and I would bind it to me as a crown.

I would declare to him the number of my steps. as a prince would I go near to him.

if I have eaten its fruits without money, or have caused its owners to lose their life,

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

Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job, because they were elder than he.

Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered, "I am young, and you are very old; Therefore I held back, and didn't dare show you my opinion.

Therefore I said, 'Listen to me; I also will show my opinion.'

"Behold, I waited for your words, and I listened for your reasoning, while you searched out what to say.

"They are amazed. They answer no more. They don't have a word to say.

Shall I wait, because they don't speak, because they stand still, and answer no more?

Behold, my breast is as wine which has no vent; like new wineskins it is ready to burst.

Please don't let me respect any man's person, neither will I give flattering titles to any man.

For I don't know how to give flattering titles; or else my Maker would soon take me away.

"However, Job, please hear my speech, and listen to all my words.

Why do you strive against him, because he doesn't give account of any of his matters?

His flesh is so consumed away, that it can't be seen. His bones that were not seen stick out.

Yes, his soul draws near to the pit, and his life to the destroyers.

"If there is beside him an angel, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show to man what is right for him;

then God is gracious to him, and says, 'Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom.'

His flesh shall be fresher than a child's. He returns to the days of his youth.

He prays to God, and he is favorable to him, so that he sees his face with joy. He restores to man his righteousness.

He sings before men, and says, 'I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it didn't profit me.

to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of the living.