If I justify myself, my own mouth will condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, that also will prove me perverse.

If the scourge shall slay suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of the innocent.

The earth is given into the hand of the wicked: he covereth the faces of its judges; if not, where, and who is he?

If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my heaviness, and comfort myself:

I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent.

If I am wicked, why then do I labor in vain?

If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean;

My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

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

Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?

Are thy days as the days of man? are thy years as man's days,

Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of thy hand.

If I sin, then thou markest me, and thou wilt not acquit me from my iniquity.

If I be wicked, woe to me; and if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head. I am full of confusion; therefore see thou my affliction;

Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness, and the shades of death;

A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shades of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness.

Should not the multitude of words be answered? and should a man full of talk be justified?

And that he would show thee the secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is! Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thy iniquity deserveth.

The measure of it is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.

If he shall cut off, and shut up, or gather together, then who can hinder him?

If thou preparest thy heart, and stretchest out thy hands towards him;

If iniquity is in thy hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles.

But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape, and their hope shall be as the expiration of the breath.

He that is ready to slip with his feet is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease.

The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure; into whose hand God bringeth abundantly.

But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee:

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

Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this?

In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.

With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding.

He looseth the bond of kings, and girdeth their loins with a girdle.

He removeth away the speech of the trusty, and taketh away the understanding of the aged.

He poureth contempt upon princes, and weakeneth the strength of the mighty.

He revealeth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth to light the shades of death.

He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.

But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value.

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

He will surely reprove you, if ye do secretly accept persons.

Your remembrances are like to ashes, your bodies to bodies of clay.

Who is he that will plead with me? for now, if I hold my tongue, I shall expire.

For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth.

Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks, and lookest narrowly to all my paths; thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet.

Man that 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 thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;

For there is hope of a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its tender branch will not cease.

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

So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens shall be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.

If a man dieth, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change shall come.

Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thy hands.

And surely the mountain falling cometh to naught, and the rock is removed out of its place.

The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man.

His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.

Yes, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God.

For thy mouth uttereth thy iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.

Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?

Are the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee?

That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth?

What is man, that he should be clean? and he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.

He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for by the sword.

He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.

He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers:

Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks.

He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection of it upon the earth.

He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away.

He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.

For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.

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

But I would strengthen you with my mouth and the moving of my lips should assuage your grief.

God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked.

My face is foul with weeping, and on my eyelids are the shades of death;

He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.

He hath made me also a by-word of the people; and in former time I was as a tabret.

My eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shade.

My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.

They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.

If I wait, the grave is my house: I have made my bed in the darkness.

They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.

How long will it be ere ye make an end of words? mark, and afterwards we will speak.

He teareth himself in his anger: shall the earth be forsaken for thee? and shall the rock be removed out of its place?

Yes, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.

The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down.

It shall devour the strength of his skin: even the first-born of death shall devour his strength.

His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors.

It shall dwell in his tabernacle, because it is none of his: brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.

His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off.

He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.

Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not God.

If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach:

Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.

He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.

He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me to him as one of his enemies.

My breath is strange to my wife, though I entreated for the children's sake of my own body.

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

Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.

But ye would say, Why persecute we him, seeing the root of the matter is found in me?

Be ye afraid of the sword: for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment.

I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer.

Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth,