13 "My eyes have seen all this,
my ears have heard and understood it.
² What you know, I also know;
I am not inferior to you.
³ But I desire to speak to the Almighty
and to argue my case with God.
⁴ You, however, smear me with lies;
you are worthless physicians, all of you!
⁵ If only you would be altogether silent!
For you, that would be wisdom.
⁶ Hear now my argument;
listen to the pleas of my lips.
⁷ Will you speak wickedly on God’s behalf?
Will you speak deceitfully for him?
⁸ Will you show him partiality?
Will you argue the case for God?
⁹ Would it turn out well if he examined you?
Could you deceive him as you might deceive a mortal?
¹⁰ He would surely call you to account
if you secretly showed partiality.
¹¹ Would not his splendor terrify you?
Would not the dread of him fall on you?
¹² Your maxims are proverbs of ashes;
your defenses are defenses of clay.

¹³ "Keep silent and let me speak;
then let come to me what may.
¹⁴ Why do I put myself in jeopardy
and take my life in my hands?
¹⁵ Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him;
I will surely^[a] defend my ways to his face.
¹⁶ Indeed, this will turn out for my deliverance,
for no godless person would dare come before him!
¹⁷ Listen carefully to what I say;
let my words ring in your ears.
¹⁸ Now that I have prepared my case,
I know I will be vindicated.
¹⁹ Can anyone bring charges against me?
If so, I will be silent and die.

²⁰ "Only grant me these two things, God,
and then I will not hide from you:
²¹ Withdraw your hand far from me,
and stop frightening me with your terrors.
²² Then summon me and I will answer,
or let me speak, and you reply to me.
²³ How many wrongs and sins have I committed?
Show me my offense and my sin.
²⁴ Why do you hide your face
and consider me your enemy?
²⁵ Will you torment a windblown leaf?
Will you chase after dry chaff?
²⁶ For you write down bitter things against me
and make me reap the sins of my youth.
²⁷ You fasten my feet in shackles;
you keep close watch on all my paths
by putting marks on the soles of my feet.

²⁸ "So man wastes away like something rotten,
like a garment eaten by moths.

14 "Mortals, born of woman,
are of few days and full of trouble.
² They spring up like flowers and wither away;
like fleeting shadows, they do not endure.
³ Do you fix your eye on them?
Will you bring them^[b] before you for judgment?
⁴ Who can bring what is pure from the impure?
No one!
⁵ A person’s days are determined;
you have decreed the number of his months
and have set limits he cannot exceed.
⁶ So look away from him and let him alone,
till he has put in his time like a hired laborer.

⁷ "At least there is hope for a tree:
If it is cut down, it will sprout again,
and its new shoots will not fail.
⁸ Its roots may grow old in the ground
and its stump die in the soil,
⁹ yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put forth shoots like a plant.
¹⁰ But a man dies and is laid low;
he breathes his last and is no more.
¹¹ As the water of a lake dries up
or a riverbed becomes parched and dry,
¹² so he lies down and does not rise;
till the heavens are no more, people will not awake
or be roused from their sleep.

¹³ "If only you would hide me in the grave
and conceal me till your anger has passed!
If only you would set me a time
and then remember me!
¹⁴ If someone dies, will they live again?
All the days of my hard service
I will wait for my renewal^[c] to come.
¹⁵ You will call and I will answer you;
you will long for the creature your hands have made.
¹⁶ Surely then you will count my steps
but not keep track of my sin.
¹⁷ My offenses will be sealed up in a bag;
you will cover over my sin.

¹⁸ "But as a mountain erodes and crumbles
and as a rock is moved from its place,
¹⁹ as water wears away stones
and torrents wash away the soil,
so you destroy a person’s hope.
²⁰ You overpower them once for all, and they are gone;
you change their countenance and send them away.
²¹ If their children are honored, they do not know it;
if their offspring are brought low, they do not see it.
²² They feel but the pain of their own bodies
and mourn only for themselves. "

² "Would a wise person answer with empty notions
or fill their belly with the hot east wind?
³ Would they argue with useless words,
with speeches that have no value?
⁴ But you even undermine piety
and hinder devotion to God.
⁵ Your sin prompts your mouth;
you adopt the tongue of the crafty.
⁶ Your own mouth condemns you, not mine;
your own lips testify against you.

⁷ "Are you the first man ever born?
Were you brought forth before the hills?
⁸ Do you listen in on God’s council?
Do you have a monopoly on wisdom?
⁹ What do you know that we do not know?
What insights do you have that we do not have?
¹⁰ The gray-haired and the aged are on our side,
men even older than your father.
¹¹ Are God’s consolations not enough for you,
words spoken gently to you?
¹² Why has your heart carried you away,
and why do your eyes flash,
¹³ so that you vent your rage against God
and pour out such words from your mouth?

¹⁴ "What are mortals, that they could be pure,
or those born of woman, that they could be righteous?
¹⁵ If God places no trust in his holy ones,
if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes,
¹⁶ how much less mortals, who are vile and corrupt,
who drink up evil like water!

¹⁷ "Listen to me and I will explain to you;
let me tell you what I have seen,
¹⁸ what the wise have declared,
hiding nothing received from their ancestors
¹⁹ (to whom alone the land was given
when no foreigners moved among them):
²⁰ All his days the wicked man suffers torment,
the ruthless man through all the years stored up for him.
²¹ Terrifying sounds fill his ears;
when all seems well, marauders attack him.
²² He despairs of escaping the realm of darkness;
he is marked for the sword.
²³ He wanders about for food like a vulture;
he knows the day of darkness is at hand.
²⁴ Distress and anguish fill him with terror;
troubles overwhelm him, like a king poised to attack,
²⁵ because he shakes his fist at God
and vaunts himself against the Almighty,
²⁶ defiantly charging against him
with a thick, strong shield.

²⁷ "Though his face is covered with fat
and his waist bulges with flesh,
²⁸ he will inhabit ruined towns
and houses where no one lives,
houses crumbling to rubble.
²⁹ He will no longer be rich and his wealth will not endure,
nor will his possessions spread over the land.
³⁰ He will not escape the darkness;
a flame will wither his shoots,
and the breath of God’s mouth will carry him away.
³¹ Let him not deceive himself by trusting what is worthless,
for he will get nothing in return.
³² Before his time he will wither,
and his branches will not flourish.
³³ He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes,
like an olive tree shedding its blossoms.
³⁴ For the company of the godless will be barren,
and fire will consume the tents of those who love bribes.
³⁵ They conceive trouble and give birth to evil;
their womb fashions deceit."