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.