whose harvest the hungry eats up, and take it even out of the thorns. The snare gapes for their substance.

For affliction doesn't come forth from the dust, neither does trouble spring out of the ground;

He frustrates the devices of the crafty, So that their hands can't perform their enterprise.

He takes the wise in their own craftiness; the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong.

But he saves from the sword of their mouth, even the needy from the hand of the mighty.

"Behold, blessed is the man whom God corrects. Therefore do not despise the chastening of Shaddai.

In famine he will redeem you from death; in war, from the power of the sword.

You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, neither shall you be afraid of destruction when it comes.

At destruction and famine you shall laugh, neither shall you be afraid of the animals of the earth.

For you shall be in league with the stones of the field. The animals of the field shall be at peace with you.

You shall know also that your seed shall be great, Your offspring as the grass of the earth.

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

For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas, therefore have my words been rash.

For the arrows of Shaddai are within me. My spirit drinks up their poison. The terrors of God set themselves in array against me.

Can that which has no flavor be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?

even that it would please God to crush me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off.

Be it still my consolation, yes, let me exult in pain that doesn't spare, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh of brass?

"To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend; even to him who forsakes the fear of Shaddai.

My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away;

Which are black by reason of the ice, in which the snow hides itself.

In the dry season, they vanish. When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.

The caravans of Tema looked. The companies of Sheba waited for them.

or, 'Deliver me from the adversary's hand?' or, 'Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors?'

How forcible are words of uprightness. But your reproof, what does it reprove?

Do you intend to reprove words, seeing that the speeches of one who is desperate are as wind?

Yes, you would even cast lots for the fatherless, and make merchandise of your friend.

"Isn't a man forced to labor on earth? Aren't his days like the days of a hired hand?

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

When I lie down, I say, 'When shall I arise, and the night be gone?' I toss and turn until the dawning of the day.

My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust. My skin closes up, and breaks out afresh.

The eye of him who sees me shall see me no more. Your eyes shall be on me, but I shall not be.

"Therefore I will not keep silent. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

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

"How long will you speak these things? Shall the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?

If your children have sinned against him, He has delivered them into the hand of their disobedience.

If you want to seek God diligently, make your supplication to Shaddai.

If you were pure and upright, surely now he would awaken for you, and make the habitation of your righteousness prosperous.

"Please inquire of past generations. Find out about the learning of their fathers.

(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days on earth are a shadow.)

Shall they not teach you, tell you, and utter words out of their heart?

So are the paths of all who forget God. The hope of the godless man shall perish,

His roots are wrapped around the rock pile. He sees the place of stones.

If he is destroyed from his place, then it shall deny him, saying, 'I have not seen you.'

Behold, this is the joy of his way: out of the earth, others shall spring.

Those who hate you shall be clothed with shame. The tent of the wicked shall be no more."

If he is pleased to contend with him, he can't answer him one time in a thousand.

He shakes the earth out of its place. Its pillars tremble.

He alone stretches out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea.

He makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.

"God will not withdraw his anger. The helpers of Rahab stoop under him.

If I had called, and he had answered me, yet I wouldn't believe that he listened to my voice.

If it is a matter of strength, behold, he is mighty. If of justice, 'Who,' says he, 'will summon me?'

If the scourge kills suddenly, he will mock at the trial of the innocent.

The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If not he, then who is it?

If I say, 'I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face, and cheer up;'

I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that you will not hold me innocent.

If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with lye,

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

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?

Are your days as the days of mortals, or your years as man's years,

Although you know that I am not wicked, there is no one who can deliver out of your hand.

if I sin, then you mark me. You will not acquit me from my iniquity.

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.

"'Why, then, have you brought me forth out of the womb? I wish I had given up the spirit, and no eye had seen me.

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

the land dark as midnight, of the shadow of death, without any order, where the light is as midnight.'"

"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.

"Can you fathom the mystery of God? Or can you probe the limits of Shaddai?

If he passes by, or confines, or convenes a court, then who can oppose him?

"If you set your heart aright, stretch out your hands toward him.

If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away. Do not 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."

In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune. It is ready for them whose foot slips.

The tents of robbers prosper. Those who provoke God are secure, who carry their god in their hands.

"But ask the animals, now, and they shall teach you; the birds of the sky, and they shall tell you.

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 the LORD has done this,

in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?

With aged men is wisdom, in length of days understanding.

He loosens the bond of kings. He binds their waist with a belt.

He removes the speech of those who are trusted, and takes away the understanding of the elders.

He pours contempt on princes, and loosens the belt of the strong.

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.

But you are forgers of lies. You are all physicians of no value.

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

He will surely reprove you if you secretly show partiality.

Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes, Your defenses are defenses of clay.

For you write bitter things against me, and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth:

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

"Man, who is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble.

Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.

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

"For there is hope for a tree, If it is cut down, that it will sprout again, that the tender branch of it will not cease.

yet through the scent of water it will bud, and put forth boughs like a plant.

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.