² “You people really know everything, don’t you?
    And when you die, wisdom will die with you!
³ Well, I know a few things myself—
    and you’re no better than I am.
    Who doesn’t know these things you’ve been saying?
⁴ Yet my friends laugh at me,
    for I call on God and expect an answer.
I am a just and blameless man,
    yet they laugh at me.
⁵ People who are at ease mock those in trouble.
    They give a push to people who are stumbling.
⁶ But robbers are left in peace,
    and those who provoke God live in safety—
    though God keeps them in his power.^[a]

⁷ “Just ask the animals, and they will teach you.
    Ask the birds of the sky, and they will tell you.
⁸ Speak to the earth, and it will instruct you.
    Let the fish in the sea speak to you.
⁹ For they all know
    that my disaster^[b] has come from the hand of the Lord.
¹⁰ For the life of every living thing is in his hand,
    and the breath of every human being.
¹¹ The ear tests the words it hears
    just as the mouth distinguishes between foods.
¹² Wisdom belongs to the aged,
    and understanding to the old.

¹³ “But true wisdom and power are found in God;
    counsel and understanding are his.
¹⁴ What he destroys cannot be rebuilt.
    When he puts someone in prison, there is no escape.
¹⁵ If he holds back the rain, the earth becomes a desert.
    If he releases the waters, they flood the earth.
¹⁶ Yes, strength and wisdom are his;
    deceivers and deceived are both in his power.
¹⁷ He leads counselors away, stripped of good judgment;
    wise judges become fools.
¹⁸ He removes the royal robe of kings.
    They are led away with ropes around their waist.
¹⁹ He leads priests away, stripped of status;
    he overthrows those with long years in power.
²⁰ He silences the trusted adviser
    and removes the insight of the elders.
²¹ He pours disgrace upon princes
    and disarms the strong.

²² “He uncovers mysteries hidden in darkness;
    he brings light to the deepest gloom.
²³ He builds up nations, and he destroys them.
    He expands nations, and he abandons them.
²⁴ He strips kings of understanding
    and leaves them wandering in a pathless wasteland.
²⁵ They grope in the darkness without a light.
    He makes them stagger like drunkards.

⁸ “‘You formed me with your hands; you made me,
    yet now you completely destroy me.
⁹ Remember that you made me from dust—
    will you turn me back to dust so soon?
¹⁰ You guided my conception
    and formed me in the womb.^[a]
11 You clothed me with skin and flesh,
    and you knit my bones and sinews together.
¹² You gave me life and showed me your unfailing love.
    My life was preserved by your care.

¹³ “‘Yet your real motive—
    your true intent—
¹⁴ was to watch me, and if I sinned,
    you would not forgive my guilt.
¹⁵ If I am guilty, too bad for me;
    and even if I’m innocent, I can’t hold my head high,
    because I am filled with shame and misery.
¹⁶ And if I hold my head high, you hunt me like a lion
    and display your awesome power against me.
¹⁷ Again and again you witness against me.
    You pour out your growing anger on me
    and bring fresh armies against me.

¹⁸ “‘Why, then, did you deliver me from my mother’s womb?
    Why didn’t you let me die at birth?
¹⁹ It would be as though I had never existed,
    going directly from the womb to the grave.
²⁰ I have only a few days left, so leave me alone,
    that I may have a moment of comfort
²¹ before I leave—never to return—
    for the land of darkness and utter gloom.
²² It is a land as dark as midnight,
    a land of gloom and confusion,
    where even the light is dark as midnight.’”