² “How long will you torture me?
    How long will you try to crush me with your words?
³ You have already insulted me ten times.
    You should be ashamed of treating me so badly.
⁴ Even if I have sinned,
    that is my concern, not yours.
⁵ You think you’re better than I am,
    using my humiliation as evidence of my sin.
⁶ But it is God who has wronged me,
    capturing me in his net.^[a]

⁷ “I cry out, ‘Help!’ but no one answers me.
    I protest, but there is no justice.
⁸ God has blocked my way so I cannot move.
    He has plunged my path into darkness.
⁹ He has stripped me of my honor
    and removed the crown from my head.
¹⁰ He has demolished me on every side, and I am finished.
    He has uprooted my hope like a fallen tree.
¹¹ His fury burns against me;
    he counts me as an enemy.
¹² His troops advance.
    They build up roads to attack me.
    They camp all around my tent.

¹³ “My relatives stay far away,
    and my friends have turned against me.
¹⁴ My family is gone,
    and my close friends have forgotten me.
¹⁵ My servants and maids consider me a stranger.
    I am like a foreigner to them.
¹⁶ When I call my servant, he doesn’t come;
    I have to plead with him!
¹⁷ My breath is repulsive to my wife.
    I am rejected by my own family.
¹⁸ Even young children despise me.
    When I stand to speak, they turn their backs on me.
¹⁹ My close friends detest me.
    Those I loved have turned against me.
²⁰ I have been reduced to skin and bones
    and have escaped death by the skin of my teeth.

²¹ “Have mercy on me, my friends, have mercy,
    for the hand of God has struck me.
²² Must you also persecute me, like God does?
    Haven’t you chewed me up enough?

²³ “Oh, that my words could be recorded.
    Oh, that they could be inscribed on a monument,
²⁴ carved with an iron chisel and filled with lead,
    engraved forever in the rock.

²⁵ “But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
    and he will stand upon the earth at last.
²⁶ And after my body has decayed,
    yet in my body I will see God!^[b]
27 I will see him for myself.
    Yes, I will see him with my own eyes.
    I am overwhelmed at the thought!

²⁸ “How dare you go on persecuting me,
    saying, ‘It’s his own fault’?
²⁹ You should fear punishment yourselves,
    for your attitude deserves punishment.
    Then you will know that there is indeed a judgment.”

² “How long before you stop talking?
    Speak sense if you want us to answer!
³ Do you think we are mere animals?
    Do you think we are stupid?
⁴ You may tear out your hair in anger,
    but will that destroy the earth?
    Will it make the rocks tremble?

⁵ “Surely the light of the wicked will be snuffed out.
    The sparks of their fire will not glow.
⁶ The light in their tent will grow dark.
    The lamp hanging above them will be quenched.
⁷ The confident stride of the wicked will be shortened.
    Their own schemes will be their downfall.
⁸ The wicked walk into a net.
    They fall into a pit.
⁹ A trap grabs them by the heel.
    A snare holds them tight.
¹⁰ A noose lies hidden on the ground.
    A rope is stretched across their path.

¹¹ “Terrors surround the wicked
    and trouble them at every step.
¹² Hunger depletes their strength,
    and calamity waits for them to stumble.
¹³ Disease eats their skin;
    death devours their limbs.
¹⁴ They are torn from the security of their homes
    and are brought down to the king of terrors.
¹⁵ The homes of the wicked will burn down;
    burning sulfur rains on their houses.
¹⁶ Their roots will dry up,
    and their branches will wither.
¹⁷ All memory of their existence will fade from the earth;
    no one will remember their names.
¹⁸ They will be thrust from light into darkness,
    driven from the world.
¹⁹ They will have neither children nor grandchildren,
    nor any survivor in the place where they lived.
²⁰ People in the west are appalled at their fate;
    people in the east are horrified.
²¹ They will say, ‘This was the home of a wicked person,
    the place of one who rejected God.’”

² “I have heard all this before.
    What miserable comforters you are!
³ Won’t you ever stop blowing hot air?
    What makes you keep on talking?
⁴ I could say the same things if you were in my place.
    I could spout off criticism and shake my head at you.
⁵ But if it were me, I would encourage you.
    I would try to take away your grief.
⁶ Instead, I suffer if I defend myself,
    and I suffer no less if I refuse to speak.

⁷ “O God, you have ground me down
    and devastated my family.
⁸ As if to prove I have sinned, you’ve reduced me to skin and bones.
    My gaunt flesh testifies against me.
⁹ God hates me and angrily tears me apart.
    He snaps his teeth at me
    and pierces me with his eyes.
¹⁰ People jeer and laugh at me.
    They slap my cheek in contempt.
    A mob gathers against me.
¹¹ God has handed me over to sinners.
    He has tossed me into the hands of the wicked.

¹² “I was living quietly until he shattered me.
    He took me by the neck and broke me in pieces.
Then he set me up as his target,
¹³     and now his archers surround me.
His arrows pierce me without mercy.
    The ground is wet with my blood.^[a]
14 Again and again he smashes against me,
    charging at me like a warrior.
¹⁵ I wear burlap to show my grief.
    My pride lies in the dust.
¹⁶ My eyes are red with weeping;
    dark shadows circle my eyes.
¹⁷ Yet I have done no wrong,
    and my prayer is pure.

¹⁸ “O earth, do not conceal my blood.
    Let it cry out on my behalf.
¹⁹ Even now my witness is in heaven.
    My advocate is there on high.
²⁰ My friends scorn me,
    but I pour out my tears to God.
²¹ I need someone to mediate between God and me,
    as a person mediates between friends.
²² For soon I must go down that road
    from which I will never return.

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.’”

² “Yes, I know all this is true in principle.
    But how can a person be declared innocent in God’s sight?
³ If someone wanted to take God to court,^[a]
    would it be possible to answer him even once in a thousand times?
⁴ For God is so wise and so mighty.
    Who has ever challenged him successfully?

⁵ “Without warning, he moves the mountains,
    overturning them in his anger.
⁶ He shakes the earth from its place,
    and its foundations tremble.
⁷ If he commands it, the sun won’t rise
    and the stars won’t shine.
⁸ He alone has spread out the heavens
    and marches on the waves of the sea.
⁹ He made all the stars—the Bear and Orion,
    the Pleiades and the constellations of the southern sky.
¹⁰ He does great things too marvelous to understand.
    He performs countless miracles.

¹¹ “Yet when he comes near, I cannot see him.
    When he moves by, I do not see him go.
¹² If he snatches someone in death, who can stop him?
    Who dares to ask, ‘What are you doing?’
¹³ And God does not restrain his anger.
    Even the monsters of the sea^[b] are crushed beneath his feet.

¹⁴ “So who am I, that I should try to answer God
    or even reason with him?
¹⁵ Even if I were right, I would have no defense.
    I could only plead for mercy.
¹⁶ And even if I summoned him and he responded,
    I’m not sure he would listen to me.
¹⁷ For he attacks me with a storm
    and repeatedly wounds me without cause.
¹⁸ He will not let me catch my breath,
    but fills me instead with bitter sorrows.
¹⁹ If it’s a question of strength, he’s the strong one.
    If it’s a matter of justice, who dares to summon him^[c] to court?
²⁰ Though I am innocent, my own mouth would pronounce me guilty.
    Though I am blameless, it^[d] would prove me wicked.

²¹ “I am innocent,
    but it makes no difference to me—
    I despise my life.
²² Innocent or wicked, it is all the same to God.
    That’s why I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
²³ When a plague^[e] sweeps through,
    he laughs at the death of the innocent.
²⁴ The whole earth is in the hands of the wicked,
    and God blinds the eyes of the judges.
    If he’s not the one who does it, who is?

²⁵ “My life passes more swiftly than a runner.
    It flees away without a glimpse of happiness.
²⁶ It disappears like a swift papyrus boat,
    like an eagle swooping down on its prey.
²⁷ If I decided to forget my complaints,
    to put away my sad face and be cheerful,
²⁸ I would still dread all the pain,
    for I know you will not find me innocent, O God.
²⁹ Whatever happens, I will be found guilty.
    So what’s the use of trying?
³⁰ Even if I were to wash myself with soap
    and clean my hands with lye,
³¹ you would plunge me into a muddy ditch,
    and my own filthy clothing would hate me.

³² “God is not a mortal like me,
    so I cannot argue with him or take him to trial.
³³ If only there were a mediator between us,
    someone who could bring us together.
³⁴ The mediator could make God stop beating me,
    and I would no longer live in terror of his punishment.
³⁵ Then I could speak to him without fear,
    but I cannot do that in my own strength.

² “How long will you go on like this?
    You sound like a blustering wind.
³ Does God twist justice?
    Does the Almighty twist what is right?
⁴ Your children must have sinned against him,
    so their punishment was well deserved.
⁵ But if you pray to God
    and seek the favor of the Almighty,
⁶ and if you are pure and live with integrity,
    he will surely rise up and restore your happy home.
⁷ And though you started with little,
    you will end with much.

⁸ “Just ask the previous generation.
    Pay attention to the experience of our ancestors.
⁹ For we were born but yesterday and know nothing.
    Our days on earth are as fleeting as a shadow.
¹⁰ But those who came before us will teach you.
    They will teach you the wisdom of old.

¹¹ “Can papyrus reeds grow tall without a marsh?
    Can marsh grass flourish without water?
¹² While they are still flowering, not ready to be cut,
    they begin to wither more quickly than grass.
¹³ The same happens to all who forget God.
    The hopes of the godless evaporate.
¹⁴ Their confidence hangs by a thread.
    They are leaning on a spider’s web.
¹⁵ They cling to their home for security, but it won’t last.
    They try to hold it tight, but it will not endure.
¹⁶ The godless seem like a lush plant growing in the sunshine,
    its branches spreading across the garden.
¹⁷ Its roots grow down through a pile of stones;
    it takes hold on a bed of rocks.
¹⁸ But when it is uprooted,
    it’s as though it never existed!
¹⁹ That’s the end of its life,
    and others spring up from the earth to replace it.

²⁰ “But look, God will not reject a person of integrity,
    nor will he lend a hand to the wicked.
²¹ He will once again fill your mouth with laughter
    and your lips with shouts of joy.
²² Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,
    and the home of the wicked will be destroyed.”