1  “Behold, my eye has seen all this,

my ear has heard and understood it.

2  ^cWhat you know, I also know;

I am not inferior to you.

3  ^dBut I would speak to the Almighty,

and I desire to ^eargue my case with God.

4  As for you, ^fyou whitewash with lies;

^gworthless physicians are you all.

5  Oh that you would ^hkeep silent,

and it would be your wisdom!

6  Hear now my argument

and listen to the pleadings of my lips.

7  Will you ⁱspeak falsely for God

and speak ⁱdeceitfully for him?

8  Will you show partiality toward him?

Will you ^jplead the case for God?

9  Will it be well with you when he ^ksearches you out?

Or ^lcan you deceive him, as one deceives a man?

10  He will surely rebuke you

if in secret you show partiality.

11  Will not his ^mmajesty terrify you,

and the dread of him fall upon you?

12  Your maxims are proverbs of ⁿashes;

your defenses are defenses of clay.

13  “Let me have silence, and I will speak,

and let come on me what may.

14  Why should I take my flesh in my teeth

and ^oput my life in my hand?

15  ^pThough he slay me, I will ^qhope in him;¹

yet I will ^rargue my ways to his face.

16  This will be my salvation,

that the godless shall not come before him.

17  ^sKeep listening to my words,

and let my declaration be in your ears.

18  Behold, I have ^tprepared my case;

I know that I shall be in the right.

19  ^uWho is there who will contend with me?

For then I would be silent and die.

20  Only grant me two things,

then I will not ^vhide myself from your face:

21  ^wwithdraw your hand far from me,

and let not ^xdread of you terrify me.

22  ^yThen call, and I will answer;

or let me speak, and you reply to me.

23  How many are my iniquities and my sins?

^zMake me know my transgression and my sin.

24  Why ^ado you hide your face

and ^bcount me as your enemy?

25  Will you frighten ^ca driven leaf

and pursue dry ^dchaff?

26  For you ^ewrite bitter things against me

and make me inherit ^fthe iniquities of my youth.

27  You put my feet in ^gthe stocks

and ^hwatch all my paths;

you set a limit for² the soles of my feet.

28  Man³ wastes away like ⁱa rotten thing,

like a garment that is ^jmoth-eaten.

1  “Man who is ^kborn of a woman

is ^lfew of days and ^mfull of trouble.

2  He comes out like ⁿa flower and ^owithers;

he flees like ^pa shadow and continues not.

3  And do you ^qopen your eyes on such a one

and ^rbring me into judgment with you?

4  Who can bring ^sa clean thing out of an unclean?

There is not one.

5  Since his ^tdays are determined,

and ^uthe number of his months is with you,

and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,

6  ^vlook away from him and leave him alone,⁴

that he may enjoy, like ^wa hired hand, his day.

7  “For there is hope for a tree,

if it be cut down, that it will sprout again,

and that its shoots will not cease.

8  Though its root grow old in the earth,

and ^xits stump die in the soil,

9  yet at the scent of water it will bud

and put out ^ybranches like a young plant.

10  But a man dies and is laid low;

man breathes his last, and ^zwhere is he?

11  ^aAs waters fail from a lake

and a river wastes away and dries up,

12  so a man lies down and rises not again;

till ^bthe heavens are no more he will not awake

or be ^croused out of his sleep.

13  Oh that you would ^dhide me in ^eSheol,

that you would ^dconceal me ^funtil your wrath be past,

that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!

14  If a man dies, shall he live again?

All the days of my ^gservice I would ^hwait,

till my renewal⁵ should come.

15  You would ⁱcall, and I would answer you;

you would long for the ^jwork of your hands.

16  For then you would ^knumber my steps;

you would not keep ^lwatch over my sin;

17  my transgression would be ^msealed up in a bag,

and you would cover over my iniquity.

18  “But the mountain falls and ⁿcrumbles away,

and ^othe rock is removed from its place;

19  the waters wear away the stones;

the torrents wash away the soil of the earth;

so you destroy the hope of man.

20  You prevail forever against him, and he passes;

you change his countenance, and send him away.

21  His sons come to honor, and he ^pdoes not know it;

they are brought low, and he perceives it not.

22  He feels only the pain of his own body,

and he mourns only for himself.”

2  “Should ^ra wise man answer with ^swindy knowledge,

and fill his ^tbelly with ^uthe east wind?

3  Should he argue in unprofitable talk,

or in words with which he can do no good?

4  But you are doing away with the fear of God⁶

and hindering meditation before God.

5  For your iniquity teaches your mouth,

and you choose the tongue of the crafty.

6  Your ^vown mouth condemns you, and not I;

^wyour own lips testify against you.

7  ^x“Are you the first man who was born?

Or ^ywere you brought forth ^zbefore the hills?

8  Have you listened in ^athe council of God?

And do you limit wisdom to yourself?

9  ^bWhat do you know that we do not know?

What do you understand that is not clear to us?

10  ^cBoth the gray-haired and the aged are among us,

older than your father.

11  Are the comforts of God too small for you,

or the word that deals gently with you?

12  Why does your heart carry you away,

and why do your eyes flash,

13  that you turn your ^dspirit against God

and bring such words out of your mouth?

14  ^eWhat is man, ^fthat he can be pure?

Or he who is ^gborn of a woman, that he can be righteous?

15  Behold, God^{7 h}puts no trust in his ⁱholy ones,

and the heavens are not pure in his sight;

16  ^jhow much less one who is abominable and ^kcorrupt,

a man who ^ldrinks injustice like water!

17  “I will show you; hear me,

and what I have seen I will declare

18  (what wise men have told,

without hiding it ^mfrom their fathers,

19  to whom alone the land was given,

and no ⁿstranger passed among them).

20  The wicked man writhes in pain all his days,

through all the ^oyears that are laid up for ^pthe ruthless.

21  ^qDreadful sounds are in his ears;

in ^rprosperity the destroyer will come upon him.

22  He does not believe that he will return out of darkness,

and he is marked for the sword.

23  He ^swanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’

He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand;

24  distress and anguish terrify him;

they ^tprevail against him, like a king ready for battle.

25  Because he has stretched out his hand against God

and defies the Almighty,

26  ^urunning ^vstubbornly against him

with a thickly bossed shield;

27  because he has ^wcovered his face with his fat

and gathered fat upon his waist

28  and has lived in desolate cities,

in houses that none should inhabit,

which were ready to become heaps of ruins;

29  he will not be rich, and his wealth will not endure,

nor will his possessions spread over the earth;⁸

30  he will not depart from darkness;

the flame will dry up his shoots,

and by ^xthe breath of his mouth he will depart.

31  Let him not ^ytrust in emptiness, deceiving himself,

for emptiness will be his payment.

32  It will be paid in full ^zbefore his time,

and his branch will not be green.

33  He will shake off his unripe grape like the vine,

and cast off his blossom like the olive tree.

34  For ^athe company of the godless is barren,

and ^bfire consumes the tents of bribery.

35  They ^cconceive trouble and give birth to evil,

and their ^dwomb prepares deceit.”

1  ^eGod shall arise, his enemies shall be ^fscattered;

and those who hate him shall flee before him!

2  As ^gsmoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away;

^has wax melts before fire,

so the wicked shall perish before God!

3  But ⁱthe righteous shall be glad;

they shall exult before God;

they shall be jubilant with joy!

4  Sing to God, ^jsing praises to his name;

^klift up a song to him who ^lrides through ^mthe deserts;

his name is ⁿthe Lord;

exult before him!

5  ^oFather of the fatherless and ^pprotector of widows

is God in his holy habitation.

6  God ^qsettles the solitary in a home;

he ^rleads out the prisoners to prosperity,

but ^sthe rebellious dwell in ^ta parched land.

7  O God, when you ^uwent out before your people,

^vwhen you marched through ^wthe wilderness, Selah

8  ^xthe earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain,

before God, the One of Sinai,

before God,¹ the God of Israel.

9  ^yRain in abundance, O God, you shed abroad;

you restored your inheritance as it languished;

10  your flock² found a dwelling in it;

in your goodness, O God, you ^zprovided for the needy.

11  The Lord gives ^athe word;

^bthe women who announce the news are a great host:

12  ^c“The kings of the armies—they flee, they flee!”

The women at home ^ddivide the spoil—

13  though you men lie among ^ethe sheepfolds—

the wings of a dove covered with silver,

its pinions with shimmering gold.

14  When the Almighty scatters kings there,

let snow fall on ^fZalmon.

15  O mountain of God, mountain of Bashan;

O many-peaked³ mountain, mountain of Bashan!

16  Why do you look with hatred, O many-peaked mountain,

at the mount that God ^gdesired for his abode,

yes, where the Lord will dwell forever?

17  ^hThe chariots of God are twice ten thousand,

thousands upon thousands;

the Lord is among them; Sinai is now in the sanctuary.

18  ⁱYou ascended on high,

^jleading a host of captives in your train

and ^kreceiving gifts among men,

even among ^lthe rebellious, ^mthat the Lord God may dwell there.

19  Blessed be the Lord,

who daily ⁿbears us up;

God is our salvation. Selah

20  Our God is a God of salvation,

^oand to God, the Lord, belong deliverances from death.

21  ^pBut God will strike the heads of his enemies,

the hairy crown of him who walks in his guilty ways.

22  The Lord said,

“I will bring them back ^qfrom Bashan,

^rI will bring them back from the depths of the sea,

23  that you may ^sstrike your feet in their blood,

that ^tthe tongues of your dogs may have their portion from the foe.”

24  Your procession is⁴ seen, O God,

the procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary—

25  ^uthe singers in front, ^vthe musicians last,

between them ^wvirgins playing tambourines:

26  ^x“Bless God in the great congregation,

the Lord, O you⁵ who are of ^yIsrael’s fountain!”

27  There is ^zBenjamin, the least of them, in the lead,

the princes of Judah in their throng,

the princes of ^aZebulun, the princes of Naphtali.

28  ^bSummon your power, O God,⁶

the power, O God, by which you have worked for us.

29  Because of your temple at Jerusalem

kings shall ^cbear gifts to you.

30  Rebuke ^dthe beasts that dwell among the reeds,

the herd of ^ebulls with the calves of the peoples.

^fTrample underfoot those who lust after tribute;

scatter the peoples who delight in war.⁷

31  Nobles shall come from ^gEgypt;

^hCush shall hasten to ⁱstretch out her hands to God.

32  ^jO kingdoms of the earth, sing to God;

sing praises to the Lord, Selah

33  to him ^kwho rides in ^lthe heavens, the ancient heavens;

behold, he ^msends out his voice, his mighty voice.

34  ⁿAscribe power to God,

whose majesty is over Israel,

and whose ^opower is in ^pthe skies.

35  ^qAwesome is God from his^{8 r}sanctuary;

the God of Israel—he is the one who gives ^spower and strength to his people.

Blessed be God!