¹⁷ "Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects. Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty.

¹⁸ For he wounds, and binds up. He injures, and his hands make whole.

¹⁹ He will deliver you in six troubles; yes, in seven no evil shall touch you.

²⁰ In famine he will redeem you from death; in war, from the power of the sword.

²¹ You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, neither shall you be afraid of destruction when it comes.

²² At destruction and famine you shall laugh, neither shall you be afraid of the animals of the earth.

²³ For you shall be allied with the stones of the field. The animals of the field shall be at peace with you.

²⁴ You shall know that your tent is in peace. You shall visit your fold, and shall miss nothing.

²⁵ You shall know also that your seed shall be great, Your offspring as the grass of the earth.

²⁶ You shall come to your grave in a full age, like a shock of grain comes in its season.

²⁷ Look this, we have searched it, so it is. Hear it, and know it for your good."

¹ Then Job answered,

² "Oh that my anguish were weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances!

³ For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas, therefore have my words been rash.

⁴ For the arrows of the Almighty are within me. My spirit drinks up their poison. The terrors of God set themselves in array against me.

⁵ Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass? Or does the ox low over his fodder?

⁶ Can that which has no flavor be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?

⁷ My soul refuses to touch them. They are as loathsome food to me.

⁸ "Oh that I might have my request, that God would grant the thing that I long for,

⁹ even that it would please God to crush me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!

¹⁰ Be it still my consolation, yes, let me exult in pain that doesn't spare, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

¹¹ What is my strength, that I should wait? What is my end, that I should be patient?

¹² Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh of brass?

¹³ Isn't it that I have no help in me, That wisdom is driven quite from me?

¹⁴ "To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend; even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

¹⁵ My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away;

¹⁶ Which are black by reason of the ice, in which the snow hides itself.

¹⁷ In the dry season, they vanish. When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.

¹⁸ The caravans that travel beside them turn aside. They go up into the waste, and perish.

¹⁹ The caravans of Tema looked. The companies of Sheba waited for them.

²⁰ They were distressed because they were confident. They came there, and were confounded.

²¹ For now you are nothing. You see a terror, and are afraid.

²² Did I say, 'Give to me?' or, 'Offer a present for me from your substance?'

²³ or, 'Deliver me from the adversary's hand?' or, 'Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors?'

²⁴ "Teach me, and I will hold my peace. Cause me to understand wherein I have erred.

²⁵ How forcible are words of uprightness! But your reproof, what does it reprove?

²⁶ Do you intend to reprove words, since the speeches of one who is desperate are as wind?

²⁷ Yes, you would even cast lots for the fatherless, and make merchandise of your friend.

²⁸ Now therefore be pleased to look at me, for surely I shall not lie to your face.

²⁹ Please return. Let there be no injustice. Yes, return again. My cause is righteous.

³⁰ Is there injustice on my tongue? Can't my taste discern mischievous things?

¹ "Isn't a man forced to labor on earth? Aren't his days like the days of a hired hand?

² As a servant who earnestly desires the shadow, as a hireling who looks for his wages,

³ so am I made to possess months of misery, wearisome nights are appointed to me.

⁴ When I lie down, I say, 'When shall I arise, and the night be gone?' I toss and turn until the dawning of the day.

⁵ My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust. My skin closes up, and breaks out afresh.

⁶ My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope.

⁷ Oh remember that my life is a breath. My eye shall no more see good.

⁸ The eye of him who sees me shall see me no more. Your eyes shall be on me, but I shall not be.

⁹ As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he who goes down to Sheol shall come up no more.

¹⁰ He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.

¹¹ "Therefore I will not keep silent. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

¹² Am I a sea, or a sea monster, that you put a guard over me?

¹³ When I say, 'My bed shall comfort me. My couch shall ease my complaint;'

¹⁴ then you scare me with dreams, and terrify me through visions:

¹⁵ so that my soul chooses strangling, death rather than my bones.

¹⁶ I loathe my life. I don't want to live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.

¹⁷ What is man, that you should magnify him, that you should set your mind on him,

¹⁸ that you should visit him every morning, and test him every moment?

¹⁹ How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone until I swallow down my spittle?

²⁰ If I have sinned, what do I do to you, you watcher of men? Why have you set me as a mark for you, so that I am a burden to myself?

²¹ Why do you not pardon my disobedience, and take away my iniquity? For now shall I lie down in the dust. You will seek me diligently, but I shall not be."

¹ Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,

² "How long will you speak these things? Shall the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?

³ Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness?

⁴ If your children have sinned against him, He has delivered them into the hand of their disobedience.

⁵ If you want to seek God diligently, make your supplication to the Almighty.

⁶ If you were pure and upright, surely now he would awaken for you, and make the habitation of your righteousness prosperous.

⁷ Though your beginning was small, yet your latter end would greatly increase.

⁸ "Please inquire of past generations. Find out about the learning of their fathers.

⁹ (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days on earth are a shadow.)

¹⁰ Shall they not teach you, tell you, and utter words out of their heart?

¹¹ "Can the papyrus grow up without mire? Can the rushes grow without water?

¹² While it is yet in its greenness, not cut down, it withers before any other reed.

¹³ So are the paths of all who forget God. The hope of the godless man shall perish,

¹⁴ Whose confidence shall break apart, Whose trust is a spider's web.

¹⁵ He shall lean on his house, but it shall not stand. He shall cling to it, but it shall not endure.

¹⁶ He is green before the sun. His shoots go forth over his garden.

¹⁷ His roots are wrapped around the rock pile. He sees the place of stones.

¹⁸ If he is destroyed from his place, then it shall deny him, saying, 'I have not seen you.'

¹⁹ Behold, this is the joy of his way: out of the earth, others shall spring.

²⁰ "Behold, God will not cast away a blameless man, neither will he uphold the evildoers.

²¹ He will still fill your mouth with laughter, your lips with shouting.

²² Those who hate you shall be clothed with shame. The tent of the wicked shall be no more."