“If God should determine to do so,
If He should gather to Himself [that is, withdraw from man] His [life-giving] spirit and His breath,

Can one who hates justice really govern? And if God is righteous and mighty, can you condemn him?

“God who says to a king, ‘You are worthless and vile,’
Or to princes and nobles, ‘You are wicked and evil’?

“Who is not partial to princes,
Nor does He regard the rich above the poor,
For they all are the work of His hands.

“For God’s eyes are on the ways of a man,
And He sees all his steps.

For he will not lay upon man more than right; that he should enter into judgment with God.

“He strikes them like the wicked
In a public place,

but he remains quiet, and who can condemn? And he hides [his] face, and who can behold him? Yet [he is] over a nation and over a person alike,

Surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more:

“Shall God’s retribution [for your sins] be on your terms, because you refuse to accept it?
For you must do the choosing, and not I;
Therefore say what you [truthfully] know.

For he addeth rebellion unto his sin, he clappeth his hands among us, and multiplieth his words against God.

Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God's?

For you say, What will it benefit you? And, What good shall I have more than if I had sinned?

“If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against Him?
And if your transgressions are multiplied, what have you done to Him?

“If you are righteous, what do you give God,
Or what does He receive from your hand?

“Your wickedness affects only a man such as you,
And your righteousness affects only a son of man [but it cannot affect God, who is sovereign].

But none saith, Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night;

Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it.

“And now, because He has not [quickly] punished in His anger,
Nor has He acknowledged transgression and arrogance well [and seems unaware of the wrong of which a person is guilty],

Suffer me a little, and I will shew thee that I have yet to speak on God's behalf.

I will get my knowledge from a distant place
and ascribe justice to my Maker.

Behold, God is mighty, and despiseth not any: he is mighty in strength and wisdom.

“He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous [those in right standing with Him];
But with kings upon the throne
He has seated them forever, and they are exalted.

God tells them what they have done
and how arrogantly they have transgressed.

If they do hear and serve, They complete their days in good, And their years in pleasantness.

“But if they do not hear and obey, they will die by the sword [of God’s destructive judgments]
And they will die [in ignorance] without [true] knowledge.

Those who have a godless heart harbor anger;
even when God binds them, they do not cry for help.

God rescues the afflicted by their affliction;
He instructs them by their torment.

“Then indeed, He enticed you from the mouth of distress and confinement,
Into a broad place where there is no constraint or distress;
And that which was set on your table was full of fatness (rich food).

Hath God ordained then, that the glorious life of thee, and all such mighty men should not be put down?

Desire not the night, when people are cut off in their place.

“Take heed and be careful, do not turn to wickedness,
For you have chosen this [the vice of complaining against God] rather than [learning from] affliction.

Behold, God exalteth by his power: who teacheth like him?

“Who has appointed God His way,
And who can say [to Him], ‘You have done wrong’?

“Remember that you should magnify God’s work,
Of which men have sung.

“All men have seen God’s work;
Man looks at it from a distance.

Behold, God is great, and we know him not, neither can the number of his years be searched out.

Can anyone understand how the clouds spread out
or how the thunder roars from God’s pavilion?

“For by these [mighty acts] He judges the peoples;
He gives food in abundance.

Then there comes a roaring sound;
God thunders with His majestic voice.
He does not restrain the lightning
when His rumbling voice is heard.

God thundereth marvellously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend.

“God seals (brings to a standstill, stops) [by severe weather] the hand of every man,
That all men [whom He has made] may know His work [that is, His sovereign power and their subjection to it].

By the breath of God frost is given: and the breadth of the waters is straitened.

whether it be to punish any land, or to do good unto them, that seek him.

Hearken unto this, O Job: stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God.

Dost thou know when God disposed them, and caused the light of his cloud to shine?

Canst thou get to know concerning the poisings of the thick cloud, the wonders of one who is perfect in knowledge?

You whose clothes get hot
when the south wind brings calm to the land,

can you help God spread out the skies
as hard as a cast metal mirror?

“Tell us [Job] what words [of man] shall we say to such a Being;
We cannot state our case because of darkness [that is, our ignorance in the presence of the unsearchable God].

Has it been relayed to God that I want to talk? Can a person speak when he is confused?"

Fair weather cometh out of the north: with God is terrible majesty.

Who is this who makes the purpose of God dark by words without knowledge?

Get ready to answer Me like a man;
when I question you, you will inform Me.

When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

When I cut out for it my boundary, and set bars and doors,

So that light may take hold of the corners of the earth
And shake the wickedness out of it?

"Who has cut open a channel for the torrents and a way for [the] {thunder bolts},

Do you go after food for the she-lion, or get meat so that the young lions may have enough,

Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.

"Do you know when the mountain goat gives birth? Do you watch the doe as it calves its young?

When they crouch, they bring forth their young ones; they get rid of their labor pains.

Their young ones are in good liking, they grow up with corn; they go forth, and return not unto them.

Will you be looking for him to come back, and get in your seed to the crushing-floor?

Because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding.

Shaking with passion, he is biting the earth; he is not able to keep quiet at the sound of the horn;

Moreover, God spake unto Job, and said,

Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.

Get ready to answer Me like a man;
When I question you, you will inform Me.

“Will you really annul My judgment and set it aside as void?
Will you condemn Me [your God] that you may [appear to] be righteous and justified?

Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?

“[If you can do all this, Job, proving your divine power] then I [God] will also praise you and acknowledge
That your own right hand can save you.

He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him.

Will he cut out a covenant with thee? wilt thou take him for a servant forever?

Will the fishermen make profit out of him? will they have him cut up for the traders?

“Who has first given to Me that I should repay him?
Whatever is under the whole heaven is Mine. [Who can have a claim against Me who made the unmastered beast?]

"I will not keep quiet [concerning] its limbs or concerning [the] extent of its might and [the] gracefulness of its frame.

“Who can penetrate or strip off his outer armor?
Who can come to his jaws with a double bridle?

“The sword that reaches him cannot avail,
Nor [does] the spear, the dart, or the javelin.

“He looks on everything that is high [without terror];
He is monarch over all the sons of pride. [And now, Job, who are you who does not dare to disturb the beast, yet who dares resist Me, the beast’s creator? Everything under the heavens is Mine; therefore, who can have a claim against God?]”

Who is this who makes dark the purpose of God by words without knowledge? For I have been talking without knowledge about wonders not to be searched out.

And Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, Zophar the Naamathite, will go, and they will do according as God Jehovah spake: and Jehovah will accept the face of Job.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And on His law [His precepts and teachings] he [habitually] meditates day and night.

The wicked [those who live in disobedience to God’s law] are not so,
But they are like the chaff [worthless and without substance] which the wind blows away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand [unpunished] in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

For the Lord knows and fully approves the way of the righteous,
But the way of the wicked shall perish.

Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah.

Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.

{To the chief Musician on Neginoth, A Psalm of David.} Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.

There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.

Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray.

For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee.

Destroy thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have rebelled against thee.

For you bless [the] righteous. O Yahweh, like a shield you surround him [with] good favor.

Get away from me, all of you who practice evil, for the LORD has heard the sound of my weeping.

{Shiggaion of David, which he sang unto the LORD, concerning the words of Cush the Benjamite.} O LORD my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me:

O LORD my God, if I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands;

if I have rewarded those who did me good with evil, if I have plundered my enemy without justification,

Come up, Lord, in your wrath; be lifted up against my haters; be awake, my God, give orders for the judging.

Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins.