² "I have heard many things like these;
you are miserable comforters, all of you!
³ Will your long-winded speeches never end?
What ails you that you keep on arguing?
⁴ I also could speak like you,
if you were in my place;
I could make fine speeches against you
and shake my head at you.
⁵ But my mouth would encourage you;
comfort from my lips would bring you relief.

⁶ "Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved;
and if I refrain, it does not go away.
⁷ Surely, God, you have worn me out;
you have devastated my entire household.
⁸ You have shriveled me up−and it has become a witness;
my gauntness rises up and testifies against me.
⁹ God assails me and tears me in his anger
and gnashes his teeth at me;
my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes.
¹⁰ People open their mouths to jeer at me;
they strike my cheek in scorn
and unite together against me.
¹¹ God has turned me over to the ungodly
and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked.
¹² All was well with me, but he shattered me;
he seized me by the neck and crushed me.
He has made me his target;
¹³  his archers surround me.
Without pity, he pierces my kidneys
and spills my gall on the ground.
¹⁴ Again and again he bursts upon me;
he rushes at me like a warrior.

¹⁵ "I have sewed sackcloth over my skin
and buried my brow in the dust.
¹⁶ My face is red with weeping,
dark shadows ring my eyes;
¹⁷ yet my hands have been free of violence
and my prayer is pure.

¹⁸ "Earth, do not cover my blood;
may my cry never be laid to rest!
¹⁹ Even now my witness is in heaven;
my advocate is on high.
²⁰ My intercessor is my friend^[a]
as my eyes pour out tears to God;
²¹ on behalf of a man he pleads with God
as one pleads for a friend.

²² "Only a few years will pass
before I take the path of no return.

³ "Give me, O God, the pledge you demand.
Who else will put up security for me?
⁴ You have closed their minds to understanding;
therefore you will not let them triumph.
⁵ If anyone denounces their friends for reward,
the eyes of their children will fail.

⁶ "God has made me a byword to everyone,
a man in whose face people spit.
⁷ My eyes have grown dim with grief;
my whole frame is but a shadow.
⁸ The upright are appalled at this;
the innocent are aroused against the ungodly.
⁹ Nevertheless, the righteous will hold to their ways,
and those with clean hands will grow stronger.

¹⁰ "But come on, all of you, try again!
I will not find a wise man among you.
¹¹ My days have passed, my plans are shattered.
Yet the desires of my heart
¹² turn night into day;
in the face of the darkness light is near.
¹³ If the only home I hope for is the grave,
if I spread out my bed in the realm of darkness,
¹⁴ if I say to corruption, ’You are my father,’
and to the worm, ’My mother’ or ’My sister,’
¹⁵ where then is my hope−
who can see any hope for me?
¹⁶ Will it go down to the gates of death?
Will we descend together into the dust?"

² "When will you end these speeches?
Be sensible, and then we can talk.
³ Why are we regarded as cattle
and considered stupid in your sight?
⁴ You who tear yourself to pieces in your anger,
is the earth to be abandoned for your sake?
Or must the rocks be moved from their place?

⁵ "The lamp of a wicked man is snuffed out;
the flame of his fire stops burning.
⁶ The light in his tent becomes dark;
the lamp beside him goes out.
⁷ The vigor of his step is weakened;
his own schemes throw him down.
⁸ His feet thrust him into a net;
he wanders into its mesh.
⁹ A trap seizes him by the heel;
a snare holds him fast.
¹⁰ A noose is hidden for him on the ground;
a trap lies in his path.
¹¹ Terrors startle him on every side
and dog his every step.
¹² Calamity is hungry for him;
disaster is ready for him when he falls.
¹³ It eats away parts of his skin;
death’s firstborn devours his limbs.
¹⁴ He is torn from the security of his tent
and marched off to the king of terrors.
¹⁵ Fire resides^[b] in his tent;
burning sulfur is scattered over his dwelling.
¹⁶ His roots dry up below
and his branches wither above.
¹⁷ The memory of him perishes from the earth;
he has no name in the land.
¹⁸ He is driven from light into the realm of darkness
and is banished from the world.
¹⁹ He has no offspring or descendants among his people,
no survivor where once he lived.
²⁰ People of the west are appalled at his fate;
those of the east are seized with horror.
²¹ Surely such is the dwelling of an evil man;
such is the place of one who does not know God."

"God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble."^[c]