He deprives trusted advisers of speech
and takes away the elders’ good judgment.

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

But you coat the truth with lies;
you are all worthless doctors.

If only you would keep quiet, it would be a sign of wisdom!

Will ye speak wickedly for God? and talk deceitfully for him?

Will ye accept his person? will ye contend for God?

Is it good that he should search you out? or as one man mocketh another, do ye so mock him?

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

Be quiet, and I will speak.
Let whatever comes happen to me.

“Why should I take my flesh in my teeth
And put my life in my hands [incurring the wrath of God]?

Is any one able to take up the argument against me? If so, I would keep quiet and give up my breath.

Only two things, O God, do with me: Then from Thy face I am not hidden.

Are you a god who would make a leaf tremble or who would prosecute a dry straw?

And thou dost put - in the stocks - my feet, and observest all my paths, Against the roots of my feet, thou dost cut out a bound;

He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.

“[O God] turn your gaze from him so that he may rest,
Until he fulfills his day [on earth] like a hired man.

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

Though its root may be old in the earth, and its cut-off end may be dead in the dust;

But man dies and is cut off; and man expires, and where is he?

so also a person lies down and does not get up; they won't awaken until the heavens are no more, nor will they arise from their sleep."

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

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

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?

“Behold, God puts no trust in His holy ones (angels);
Indeed, the heavens are not pure in His sight—

(The things which wise men have got from their fathers, and have not kept secret from us;

“He does not believe that he will return out of the darkness [for fear of being murdered],
And he is destined for the sword [of God’s vengeance].

When he goeth forth to get his living, he thinketh plainly, that the day of darkness is at hand.

For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.

And he inhabiteth cities cut off, houses not dwelt in, That have been ready to become heaps.

He does not get wealth for himself, and is unable to keep what he has got; the heads of his grain are not bent down to the earth.

He shall not depart out of darkness; The flame shall dry up his branches, And by the breath of God's mouth shall he go away.

Let him not put his hope in what is false, falling into error: for he will get deceit as his reward.

His branch is cut off before its time, and his leaf is no longer green.

I could speak as ye do also. But would God, that your soul were in my soul's stead: then should I heap up words against you, and shake my head at you.

If I say what is in my mind, my pain becomes no less: and if I keep quiet, how much of it goes from me?

“But now God has exhausted me.
You [O Lord] have destroyed all my family and my household.

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

My friends scorn me: but mine eye poureth out tears unto God.

O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour!

“He who denounces and informs against his friends for a share of the spoil,
The eyes of his children will also languish and fail.

“Nevertheless the righteous will hold to his ways,
And he who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.

"As for you, turn you, and get you hence, I pray you - seeing I cannot see one wise man among you.

How long will it be before you have done talking? Get wisdom, and then we will say what is in our minds.

"Fearfulness shall make him afraid on every side, that he shall not know where to get out.

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

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

Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net.

I cry out: “Violence!” but get no response;
I call for help, but there is no justice.

"He hath hedged up my way, that I cannot pass; he hath set darkness in my gate.

“Even young children despise me;
When I get up, they speak against me.

My bones are joined to my skin, and I have got away with my flesh in my teeth.

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

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

And with an iron pen and lead be cut into the rock for ever!

And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:

Make sure that you remain wary of God's sword, for God's wrath brings with it the sword of punishment, by which you'll know there's a judgment."

He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.

Surely he hath known no peace in his inmost mind, - With his dearest thing, shall he not get away:

There is not a remnant to his food, Therefore his good doth not stay.

When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating.

“The produce and increase of his house will depart [with the victors];
His possessions will be dragged away in the day of God’s wrath.

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

Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.

They wear out in good their days, And in a moment to Sheol go down.

Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.

Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger.

God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it.

For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst?

Shall any teach God knowledge? seeing he judgeth those that are high.

One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet.

And another dieth in bitterness of soul, And never tasteth of good.

“That evil men are [now] reserved for the day of disaster and destruction,
They will be led away on the day of [God’s] wrath?

Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?

Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are!

And thou sayest, How doth God know? can he judge through the dark cloud?

Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood:

Which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them?

Yet he filled their houses with good things: but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

Whereas our substance is not cut down, but the remnant of them the fire consumeth.

Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.

For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God.

“You will also decide and decree a thing, and it will be established for you;
And the light [of God’s favor] will shine upon your ways.

When others are humiliated and you say, “Lift them up,”
God will save the humble.

“There the righteous and upright could reason with Him;
So I would be acquitted forever by my Judge.

"For though I go before, I find him not; If I come behind, I can get no knowledge of him;

On the north, where he worketh, but I get no vision, He hideth himself on the south that I cannot see him.

For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me:

Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face.

Like asses in the waste land they go out to their work, looking for food with care; from the waste land they get bread for their children.

They cut their provender in the field; And they glean the vintage of the wicked.

They are wet with the rain of the mountains, and get into the cracks of the rock for cover.

Others go about without clothing, and though they have no food, they get in the grain from the fields.

Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them.

The womb will forget them. Maggots will find them to be a delicacy! They won't be remembered anymore, their iniquity will be cut to pieces like firewood.

He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.

Yet God preserveth the mighty by his power: He riseth up that hath no assurance of life.

God giveth them to be in security, and they rest thereon; And his eyes are upon their ways.