2  “How long will you say these things,

and the words of your mouth be a great ^twind?

3  ^uDoes God pervert justice?

Or does the Almighty pervert the right?

4  If your ^vchildren have sinned against him,

he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression.

5  ^wIf you will seek God

and ^xplead with the Almighty for mercy,

6  if you are pure and upright,

surely then he will rouse himself for you

and restore your rightful habitation.

7  And ^ythough your beginning was small,

^zyour latter days will be very great.

8  “For inquire, please, of bygone ages,

and consider what the fathers have searched out.

9  For we are but of yesterday and know nothing,

for our days on earth are a ^ashadow.

10  Will they not teach you and tell you

and utter words out of their understanding?

11  ^b“Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh?

Can reeds flourish where there is no water?

12  While yet in flower and not cut down,

they wither before any other plant.

13  Such are the paths of all who forget God;

the ^chope of the godless shall perish.

14  His confidence is severed,

and his trust is a spider’s web.¹

15  He leans against his ^dhouse, but it does not stand;

he lays hold of it, but it does not endure.

16  He is a lush plant before the sun,

and his shoots spread over his garden.

17  His roots entwine the stone heap;

he looks upon a house of stones.

18  If he is destroyed from ^ehis place,

then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have never seen you.’

19  Behold, this is the joy of his way,

and out of the soil others will spring.

20  “Behold, ^fGod will not reject a blameless man,

nor take the hand of evildoers.

21  He will yet ^gfill your mouth with laughter,

and your lips with shouting.

22  Those who hate you will be ^hclothed with shame,

and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”

2  “How long will you hunt for words?

Consider, and then we will speak.

3  Why are we counted as cattle?

Why are we ^estupid in your sight?

4  You who tear yourself in your anger,

shall the earth be forsaken for you,

or ^fthe rock be removed out of its place?

5  “Indeed, the ^glight of the wicked is put out,

and the flame of his fire does not shine.

6  The light is dark in his tent,

and his lamp above him is put out.

7  His strong steps are shortened,

and his own ^hschemes throw him down.

8  For he is cast into a ⁱnet by his own feet,

and he walks on its mesh.

9  A trap seizes him by the heel;

a snare lays hold of him.

10  A rope is hidden for him in the ground,

a trap for him in the path.

11  Terrors frighten him on every side,

and chase him at his heels.

12  His strength is famished,

and calamity is ^jready for his stumbling.

13  It consumes the parts of his skin;

the firstborn of death consumes his limbs.

14  He is torn from the tent in which he trusted

and is brought to the king of terrors.

15  In his tent dwells that which is none of his;

sulfur is scattered over his habitation.

16  His roots dry up beneath,

and his branches wither above.

17  ^kHis memory perishes from the earth,

and he has no name in the street.

18  He is thrust from light into darkness,

and driven out of the world.

19  He has no posterity or progeny among his people,

and no survivor where he used to live.

20  They of the west are appalled at his day,

and horror seizes them of the east.

21  Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous,

such is the place of him who ^lknows not God.”

2  “Dominion and fear are with God;¹

he makes peace in his high heaven.

3  Is there any number to his armies?

Upon whom does his light not arise?

4  ^qHow then can man be in the right before God?

How can he who is born of woman be pure?

5  Behold, even the moon is not bright,

and the stars are not pure in his eyes;

6  ^rhow much less man, who is a maggot,

and the ^sson of man, who is a worm!”