| 1 | "Lo, my eye has seen all this, my ear has heard and understood it. |
| 2 | What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you. |
| 3 | But I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue my case with God. |
| 4 | As for you, you whitewash with lies; worthless physicians are you all. |
| 5 | Oh that you would keep silent, and it would be your wisdom! |
| 6 | Hear now my reasoning, and listen to the pleadings of my lips. |
| 7 | Will you speak falsely for God, and speak deceitfully for him? |
| 8 | Will you show partiality toward him, will you plead the case for God? |
| 9 | Will it be well with you when he searches you out? Or can you deceive him, as one deceives a man? |
| 10 | He will surely rebuke you if in secret you show partiality. |
| 11 | Will not his majesty terrify you, and the dread of him fall upon you? |
| 12 | Your maxims are proverbs of ashes, your defenses are defenses of clay. |
| 13 | "Let me have silence, and I will speak, and let come on me what may. |
| 14 | I will take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in my hand. |
| 15 | Behold, he will slay me; I have no hope; yet I will defend my ways to his face. |
| 16 | This will be my salvation, that a godless man shall not come before him. |
| 17 | Listen carefully to my words, and let my declaration be in your ears. |
| 18 | Behold, I have prepared my case; I know that I shall be vindicated. |
| 19 | Who is there that will contend with me? For then I would be silent and die. |
| 20 | Only grant two things to me, then I will not hide myself from thy face: |
| 21 | withdraw thy hand far from me, and let not dread of thee terrify me. |
| 22 | Then call, and I will answer; or let me speak, and do thou reply to me. |
| 23 | How many are my iniquities and my sins? Make me know my transgression and my sin. |
| 24 | Why dost thou hide thy face, and count me as thy enemy? |
| 25 | Wilt thou frighten a driven leaf and pursue dry chaff? |
| 26 | For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me inherit the iniquities of my youth. |
| 27 | Thou puttest my feet in the stocks, and watchest all my paths; thou settest a bound to the soles of my feet. |
| 28 | Man wastes away like a rotten thing, like a garment that is moth-eaten. |
| 1 | "Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. |
| 2 | He comes forth like a flower, and withers; he flees like a shadow, and continues not. |
| 3 | And dost thou open thy eyes upon such a one and bring him into judgment with thee? |
| 4 | Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one. |
| 5 | Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with thee, and thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass, |
| 6 | look away from him, and desist, that he may enjoy, like a hireling, his day. |
| 7 | "For there is hope for a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease. |
| 8 | Though its root grow old in the earth, and its stump die in the ground, |
| 9 | yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth branches like a young plant. |
| 10 | But man dies, and is laid low; man breathes his last, and where is he? |
| 11 | As waters fail from a lake, and a river wastes away and dries up, |
| 12 | so man lies down and rises not again; till the heavens are no more he will not awake, or be roused out of his sleep. |
| 13 | Oh that thou wouldest hide me in Sheol, that thou wouldest conceal me until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me! |
| 14 | If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my service I would wait, till my release should come. |
| 15 | Thou wouldest call, and I would answer thee; thou wouldest long for the work of thy hands. |
| 16 | For then thou wouldest number my steps, thou wouldest not keep watch over my sin; |
| 17 | my transgression would be sealed up in a bag, and thou wouldest cover over my iniquity. |
| 18 | "But the mountain falls and crumbles away, and the rock is removed from its place; |
| 19 | the waters wear away the stones; the torrents wash away the soil of the earth; so thou destroyest the hope of man. |
| 20 | Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passes; thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away. |
| 21 | His sons come to honor, and he does not know it; they are brought low, and he perceives it not. |
| 22 | He feels only the pain of his own body, and he mourns only for himself." |
