Indeed, my eye has seen all this;
My ear has heard and understood it.

What you know, I also know;
I am not inferior to you.

But I would speak to the Almighty,
And I desire to argue with God.

Yet you are plasterers of lies;
Physicians of no value are you all.

Oh that you would be altogether silent,
And this would be your wisdom!

Hear now my argument,
And hearken to the contentions of my lips.

Will you speak wrongly for God
And speak deceitfully for Him?

Will you be partial to Him?
Will you contend for God?

Will it be well with you when He searches you out?
Or will you deceive Him as one might deceive a man?

He will surely reprove you
If you are secretly partial.

Will not His majesty make you afraid
And His dread fall on you?

Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes;
Your defenses are defenses of clay.

Be silent before me, and I myself will speak;
And let come on me what may.

 ¹I will take my flesh in my teeth
And put my life in my hand.

Indeed, He will kill me; I have no hope.
Nevertheless I will argue my ways before Him.

This also will be my salvation,
That no profane man may come before Him.

Hear carefully my words,
And let my declaration be in your ears.

Here now, I have arranged my case;
I know that I will be vindicated.

Who will contend with me?
For then I would be silent and die.

Only do not do two things to me,
Then I will not hide from Your face:

Withdraw Your hand far from me,
And do not let Your terror frighten me.

Then call, and I will answer;
Or let me speak, and You respond to me.

How many are my iniquities and sins?
Make my transgression and my sin known to me.

Why do You hide Your face
And consider me as Your enemy?

Will You harass a driven leaf
And pursue dry chaff?

For You write bitter things against me
And cause me to inherit the iniquities of my youth;

And You put my feet in stocks
And mark all my paths;
You set a limit for the soles of my feet.

And such a one is like some rotten thing that wastes away,
Like a garment eaten by moths.

Man, born of woman,
Is of few days and full of trouble.

He comes forth like a blossom and  ¹is cut down,
He also flees like a shadow and does not remain.

And do You open Your eyes upon such a one
And bring me into litigation with You?

Who can bring a clean thing out from the unclean?
No one!

Since his days are determined,
And the number of his months is with You;
Since You have appointed his bounds, and he cannot go beyond;

Look away from him that he may rest,
Until he fulfills his day like a hired hand.

For there is hope for a tree:
If it is cut down, it will sprout again,
And its tender shoot will not cease.

Though its root grows old in the earth,
And its trunk dies in the dirt,

At the scent of water it will bud
And will produce branches like a new plant.

But a man dies and is laid low;
Yes, a man expires, and then where is he?

The waters of the sea recede,
And the river becomes parched and dried up:

So a man lies down and does not rise up;
Until the heavens are no more,  ¹he will not awake,
Nor will  ¹he be roused from  ²his sleep.

Oh, that You would hide me in Sheol,
That You would conceal me until Your anger has passed,
That You would set me an appointed time and remember me!

If a man dies, will he live again?
All the days of my service I would wait,
Until a change for me should come.

You would call, and I would answer You;
You would long after the work of Your hands.

For now You number my steps.
Do You not watch over my sin?

My transgression has been sealed up in a bag,
And You have fastened up my iniquity.

However the mountain falls and crumbles,
And the rock moves from its place;

Waters wear away stones;
Their torrents wash away the dust of the earth:
So You destroy the hope of man.

You prevail forever against him, and he passes away;
You change his countenance and send him away.

His sons gain honor, but he does not know it;
And they become insignificant, but he does not perceive it.

Only the pain of his own flesh does he feel,
And his own soul mourns for him.

And Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

Should a wise man answer with the knowledge of wind,
And should he fill his belly with the east wind?

Should he argue with useless talk
And with words by which he cannot avail?

Indeed you do away with the fear of God
And restrain meditation before God.

For your iniquity instructs your mouth,
And you choose the tongue of the crafty.

Your own mouth condemns you, and not I;
And your own lips testify against you.

Are you the first man born?
Or were you brought forth before the hills?

Did you listen in on the secret council of God?
And do you limit wisdom to yourself?

What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that is not with us?

Both the grayheaded and the aged are among us,
Older than your father.

Are the consolations of God too small for you,
Or the word spoken gently to you?

Why does your heart take you away?
And why do your eyes flash,

That you turn your spirit against God
And let words go forth from your mouth?

What is mortal man, that he can be clean,
Or he who is born of a woman, that he can be righteous?

Indeed, He puts no trust in His holy ones;
Even the heavens are not clean in His eyes.

How much less one who is abominable and corrupt!
How much less a man who drinks wrong like water!

 ¹I will tell you; hear me;
And what I have seen, that will I recount,

What wise men have declared,
And have not hidden, from their fathers;

To whom alone the land was given,
And no stranger passed in their midst:

For all his days the wicked man travails in pain,
And numbered years are stored up for the ruthless man.

The sound of terrors is in his ears;
While he is at peace, the destroyer will come upon him.

He does not believe that he will return from the darkness,
And he is spied out for the sword.

He wanders for bread — where is it?
He knows that the day of darkness is ready at hand.

Distress and straits terrify him;
They prevail against him, like a king prepared for the attack;

Because he stretched out his hand against God,
And against the Almighty he acted mightily,

Running against Him with a stiff neck,
With the thick bosses of his shield;

Because he covered his face with his fatness
And gathered fat upon his loins;

And he dwelt in desolated cities,
In houses which should not have been inhabited,
Which were appointed to become heaps.

He will not be rich, and his wealth will not endure;
Nor will  ¹his produce bend down to the earth.

He will not go away from darkness;
The flame will dry up his shoots,
And by the breath of His mouth he will go away.

Let him not trust in vanity, deceiving himself;
For vanity will be his recompense.

It will be fully paid before his day,
And his branch will not be flourishing.

He will shake off his unripe grapes like a vine,
And he will cast off his blossom like an olive tree.

For the company of the profane will be barren,
And fire will devour the tents of bribery.

They conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity,
And their heart prepares deceit.