I give up! I will not live forever.
Leave me alone, for my days are a breath.

Why not forgive my sin
and pardon my transgression?
For soon I will lie down in the grave.
You will eagerly seek me, but I will be gone.

Will they not teach you and tell you
and speak from their understanding?

He leans on his web, but it doesn’t stand firm.
He grabs it, but it does not hold up.

Look, God does not reject a person of integrity,
and He will not support evildoers.

If one wanted to take Him to court,
he could not answer God once in a thousand times.

He commands the sun not to shine
and seals off the stars.

God does not hold back His anger;
Rahab’s assistants cringe in fear beneath Him!

Even if I were in the right, I could not answer.
I could only beg my Judge for mercy.

If I summoned Him and He answered me,
I do not believe He would pay attention to what I said.

I would still live in terror of all my pains.
I know You will not acquit me.

For He is not a man like me, that I can answer Him,
that we can take each other to court.

Then I would speak and not fear Him.
But that is not the case; I am on my own.

>

I will say to God:
“Do not declare me guilty!
Let me know why You prosecute me.

even though You know that I am not wicked
and that there is no one who can deliver from Your hand?

Did You not pour me out like milk
and curdle me like cheese?

if I sin, You would notice,
and would not acquit me of my wrongdoing.

Are my days not few? Stop it!
Leave me alone, so that I can smile a little

Surely He knows which people are worthless.
If He sees iniquity, will He not take note of it?

But I also have a mind;
I am not inferior to you.
Who doesn’t know the things you are talking about?

Which of all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?

Everything you know, I also know;
I am not inferior to you.

Would God’s majesty not terrify you?
Would His dread not fall on you?

Only grant these two things to me, God,
so that I will not have to hide from Your presence:

remove Your hand from me,
and do not let Your terror frighten me.

He blossoms like a flower, then withers;
he flees like a shadow and does not last.

There is hope for a tree:
If it is cut down, it will sprout again,
and its shoots will not die.

so man lies down never to rise again.
They will not wake up until the heavens are no more;
they will not stir from their sleep.

For then You would count my steps
but would not take note of my sin.

If his sons receive honor, he does not know it;
if they become insignificant, he is unaware of it.

Your own mouth condemns you, not I;
your own lips testify against you.

What do you know that we don’t?
What do you understand that is not clear to us?

Are God’s consolations not enough for you,
even the words that deal gently with you?

If God puts no trust in His holy ones
and the heavens are not pure in His sight,

what was declared by wise men
and was not suppressed by their ancestors,

He will no longer be rich; his wealth will not endure.
His possessions will not increase in the land.

He will not escape from the darkness;
flames will wither his shoots,
and by the breath of God’s mouth, he will depart.

Let him not put trust in worthless things, being led astray,
for what he gets in exchange will prove worthless.

It will be accomplished before his time,
and his branch will not flourish.

Even if I speak, my suffering is not relieved,
and if I hold back, what have I lost?

Earth, do not cover my blood;
may my cry for help find no resting place.

You have closed their minds to understanding,
therefore You will not honor them.

But come back and try again, all of you.
I will not find a wise man among you.

They turned night into day
and made light seem near in the face of darkness.

Yes, the light of the wicked is extinguished;
the flame of his fire does not glow.

For his own feet lead him into a net,
and he strays into its mesh.

Indeed, such is the dwelling of the unjust man,
and this is the place of the one who does not know God.

then understand that it is God who has wronged me
and caught me in His net.

I call for my servant, but he does not answer,
even if I beg him with my own mouth.

I will see Him myself;
my eyes will look at Him, and not as a stranger.
My heart longs within me.

He will fly away like a dream and never be found;
he will be chased away like a vision in the night.

though he cherishes it and will not let it go
but keeps it in his mouth,

He will not enjoy the streams,
the rivers flowing with honey and cream.

For he oppressed and abandoned the poor;
he seized a house he did not build.

Because his appetite is never satisfied,
he does not let anything he desires escape.

Nothing is left for him to consume;
therefore, his prosperity will not last.

Their bulls breed without fail;
their cows calve and do not miscarry.

But their prosperity is not of their own doing.
The counsel of the wicked is far from me!

If I go east, He is not there,
and if I go west, I cannot perceive Him.

My feet have followed in His tracks;
I have kept to His way and not turned aside.

I have not departed from the commands of His lips;
I have treasured the words of His mouth
more than my daily food.

Yet I am not destroyed by the darkness,
by the thick darkness that covers my face.

>

Why does the Almighty not reserve times for judgment?
Why do those who know Him never see His days?

Without clothing, they spend the night naked,
having no covering against the cold.

The wicked are those who rebel against the light.
They do not recognize its ways
or stay on its paths.

The murderer rises at dawn
to kill the poor and needy,
and by night he becomes a thief.

They prey on the childless woman who is unable to conceive,
and do not deal kindly with the widow.

If this is not true, then who can prove me a liar
and show that my speech is worthless?

Can His troops be numbered?
Does His light not shine on everyone?

If even the moon does not shine
and the stars are not pure in His sight,

He wraps up the waters in His clouds,
yet the clouds do not burst beneath their weight.

my lips will not speak unjustly,
and my tongue will not utter deceit.

I will cling to my righteousness and never let it go.
My conscience will not accuse me as long as I live!

I will teach you about God’s power.
I will not conceal what the Almighty has planned.

Those who survive him will be buried by the plague,
yet their widows will not weep for them.

Terrors overtake him like a flood;
a storm wind sweeps him away at night.

The ocean depths say, “It’s not in me,”
while the sea declares, “I don’t have it.”

Gold and glass do not compare with it,
and articles of fine gold cannot be exchanged for it.

Coral and quartz are not worth mentioning.
The price of wisdom is beyond pearls.

My roots will have access to water,
and the dew will rest on my branches all night.

After a word from me they did not speak again;
my speech settled on them like dew.

Emaciated from poverty and hunger,
they gnawed the dry land,
the desolate wasteland by night.

They despise me and keep their distance from me;
they do not hesitate to spit in my face.

Night pierces my bones,
but my gnawing pains never rest.

I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer me;
when I stand up, You merely look at me.

Have I not wept for those who have fallen on hard times?
Has my soul not grieved for the needy?

I walk about blackened, but not by the sun.
I stood in the assembly and cried out for help.

Does He not see my ways
and number all my steps?

Did not the One who made me in the womb also make them?
Did not the same God form us both in the womb?

if he did not bless me
while warming himself with the fleece from my sheep,

For disaster from God terrifies me,
and because of His majesty I could not do these things.

I have not allowed my mouth to sin
by asking for his life with a curse.

Haven’t the members of my household said,
“Who is there who has not had enough to eat at Job’s table?”

No stranger had to spend the night on the street,
for I opened my door to the traveler.

because I greatly feared the crowds,
and the contempt of the clans terrified me,
so I grew silent and would not go outside?

But when he saw that the three men could not answer Job, he became angry.

It is not only the old who are wise
or the elderly who understand how to judge.

I paid close attention to you.
Yet no one proved Job wrong;
not one of you refuted his arguments.

So do not claim, “We have found wisdom;
let God deal with him, not man.”

But Job has not directed his argument to me,
and I will not respond to him with your arguments.