1  “Man who is born of a woman

is ⁱfew of days and ^jfull of trouble.

2  He comes out ^klike a flower and withers;

he flees like a shadow and continues not.

3  And do you open your eyes on such a one

and bring me into judgment with you?

4  ^lWho can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?

There is not one.

5  Since his days are determined,

and the ^mnumber of his months is with you,

and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,

6  ⁿlook away from him and leave him alone,¹

that he may enjoy, like a 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 its stump die in the soil,

9  yet at the scent of water it will bud

and put out branches like a young plant.

10  But a man dies and is laid low;

man breathes his last, and ^owhere is he?

11  As waters fail from a lake

and a river wastes away and dries up,

12  so a man lies down and rises not again;

till the heavens are no more he will not awake

or be roused out of his sleep.

13  ^pOh that you would hide me in Sheol,

that you would conceal me until 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 ^qservice I would wait,

till my renewal² should come.

15  ^rYou would call, and I would answer you;

you would long for the work of your hands.

16  For then you would ^snumber my steps;

^tyou would not keep watch over my sin;

17  my transgression would be sealed up in a bag,

and you would cover over my iniquity.

18  “But the mountain falls and crumbles away,

and ^uthe 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 ^vhe does 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 a wise man answer with ^wwindy knowledge,

and fill his belly with the 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 God³

and hindering meditation before God.

5  For your iniquity teaches your mouth,

and you choose the tongue of the crafty.

6  ^xYour own mouth condemns you, and not I;

your own lips testify against you.

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

Or were you brought forth ^zbefore the hills?

8  Have you listened in the ^acouncil 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  Both 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 spirit against God

and bring such words out of your mouth?

14  ^cWhat is man, that he can be pure?

Or he who is born of a woman, ^dthat he can be righteous?

15  Behold, God^{4 e}puts no trust in his holy ones,

and the heavens are not pure in his sight;

16  ^fhow much less one who is abominable and corrupt,

a man who ^gdrinks 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 from their fathers,

19  to whom alone the land was given,

and no stranger passed among them).

20  The wicked man writhes in pain all his days,

through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless.

21  Dreadful sounds are in his ears;

in prosperity 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 ^hwanders 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 prevail against him, like a king ready for battle.

25  Because he has stretched out his hand against God

and defies the Almighty,

26  running stubbornly against him

with a thickly bossed shield;

27  because he has covered his face with his ⁱfat

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;⁵

30  he will not depart from darkness;

the flame will dry up his shoots,

and by the breath of his mouth he will depart.

31  Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself,

for emptiness will be his payment.

32  It will be paid in full ^jbefore 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 the company of the godless is barren,

and fire consumes the tents of bribery.

35  They ^kconceive trouble and give birth to evil,

and their womb prepares deceit.”

2  “I have heard many such things;

^lmiserable comforters are you all.

3  Shall ^mwindy words have an end?

Or what provokes you that you answer?

4  I also could speak as you do,

if you were in my place;

I could join words together against you

and ⁿshake my head at you.

5  I could strengthen you with my mouth,

and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain.

6  “If I speak, my pain is not assuaged,

and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me?

7  Surely now God has worn me out;

he has⁶ made desolate all my company.

8  And he has shriveled me up,

which is a witness against me,

and ^omy leanness has risen up against me;

it testifies to my face.

9  He has torn me in his wrath and ^phated me;

he has gnashed his teeth at me;

my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.

10  ^qMen have gaped at me with their mouth;

they have struck me insolently on the cheek;

they mass themselves together against me.

11  God gives me up to the ungodly

and casts me into the hands of the wicked.

12  I was at ease, and he broke me apart;

he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces;

he set me up as his ^rtarget;

13  his archers surround me.

He slashes open my kidneys and does not spare;

he pours out my gall on the ground.

14  He breaks me with breach upon breach;

he runs upon me like a warrior.

15  I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin

and have laid my strength in the dust.

16  My face is red with weeping,

and on my eyelids is deep darkness,

17  although there is ^sno violence in my hands,

and my prayer is pure.

18  “O earth, ^tcover not my blood,

and let my cry find no resting place.

19  Even now, behold, ^umy witness is in heaven,

and he who testifies for me is on high.

20  ^vMy friends scorn me;

my eye pours out tears to God,

21  that he would argue the case of a man with God,

as⁷ a son of man does with his neighbor.

22  For when a few years have come

I shall go the way ^wfrom which I shall not return.