“Let the day perish on which I was to be born,
And the night which said, ‘A boy is conceived.’

“Or like a miscarriage which is discarded, I would not be,
As infants that never saw light.

“Call now, is there anyone who will answer you?
And to which of the holy ones will you turn?

“My brothers have acted deceitfully like a wadi,
Like the torrents of wadis which vanish,

Which are turbid because of ice
And into which the snow melts.

The land of utter gloom as darkness itself,
Of deep shadow without order,
And which shines as the darkness.”

“Should he argue with useless talk,
Or with words which are not profitable?

“He has lived in desolate cities,
In houses no one would inhabit,
Which are destined to become ruins.

“I listened to the reproof which insults me,
And the spirit of my understanding makes me answer.

“The eye which saw him sees him no longer,
And his place no longer beholds him.

“For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor;
He has seized a house which he has not built.

“Are they as straw before the wind,
And like chaff which the storm carries away?

“Behold, I know your thoughts,
And the plans by which you would wrong me.

“Will you keep to the ancient path
Which wicked men have trod,

“I would learn the words which He would answer,
And perceive what He would say to me.

But I am not silenced by the darkness,
Nor deep gloom which covers me.

“This is the portion of a wicked man from God,
And the inheritance which tyrants receive from the Almighty.

“He has built his house like the spider’s web,
Or as a hut which the watchman has made.

“I was a father to the needy,
And I investigated the case which I did not know.

“Oh that I had one to hear me!
Behold, here is my signature;
Let the Almighty answer me!
And the indictment which my adversary has written,

“His flesh wastes away from sight,
And his bones which were not seen stick out.

“Then indeed, He enticed you from the mouth of distress,
Instead of it, a broad place with no constraint;
And that which was set on your table was full of fatness.

“Remember that you should exalt His work,
Of which men have sung.

Which the clouds pour down,
They drip upon man abundantly.

“God thunders with His voice wondrously,
Doing great things which we cannot comprehend.

“Now men do not see the light which is bright in the skies;
But the wind has passed and cleared them.

Which I have reserved for the time of distress,
For the day of war and battle?

“Behold now, Behemoth, which I made as well as you;
He eats grass like an ox.

‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand,
Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.”