1
I am disgusted with my life. I will express my complaint and speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2
I will say to God: Do not declare me guilty! Let me know why You prosecute me.
3
Is it good for You to oppress, to reject the work of Your hands, and favor the plans of the wicked?
4
Do You have eyes of flesh, or do You see as a human sees?
5
Are Your days like those of a human, or Your years like those of a man,
6
that You look for my wrongdoing and search for my sin,
7
even though You know that I am not wicked and that there is no one who can deliver from Your hand?
8
Your hands shaped me and formed me. Will You now turn around and destroy me?
9
Please remember that You formed me like clay. Will You now return me to dust?
10
Did You not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese?
11
You clothed me with skin and flesh, and wove me together with bones and tendons.
12
You gave me life and faithful love, and Your care has guarded my life.
13
Yet You concealed these [thoughts] in Your heart; I know that this was Your hidden plan:
14
if I sin, You would notice, and would not acquit me of my wrongdoing.
15
If I am wicked, woe to me! And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head. I am filled with shame and aware of my affliction.
16
If I am proud, You hunt me like a lion and again display Your miraculous power against me.
17
You produce new witnesses against me and multiply Your anger toward me. Hardships assault me, wave after wave.
18
Why did You bring me out of the womb? I should have died and never been seen.
19
I wish I had never existed but had been carried from the womb to the grave.
20
Are my days not few? Stop [it]! Leave me alone, so that I can smile a little
21
before I go to a land of darkness and gloom, never to return.
22
[It is] a land of blackness like the deepest darkness, gloomy and chaotic, where even the light is like the darkness.
1
Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:
2
Should this stream of words go unanswered and such a talker be acquitted?
3
Should your babbling put others to silence, so that you can keep on ridiculing with no one to humiliate you?
4
You have said, "My teaching is sound, and I am pure in Your sight."
5
But if only God would speak and declare His case against you,
6
He would show you the secrets of wisdom, for true wisdom has two sides. Know then that God has chosen to overlook some of your sin.
7
Can you fathom the depths of God or discover the limits of the Almighty?
8
[They are] higher than the heavens-- what can you do? [They are] deeper than Sheol-- what can you know?
9
Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea.
10
If He passes by and throws [someone] in prison or convenes a court, who can stop Him?
11
Surely He knows which people are worthless. If He sees iniquity, will He not take note [of it]?
12
But a stupid man will gain understanding as soon as a wild donkey is born a man!
13
As for you, if you redirect your heart and lift up your hands to Him [in prayer]--
14
if there is iniquity in your hand, remove it, and don't allow injustice to dwell in your tents--
15
then you will hold your head high, free from fault. You will be firmly established and unafraid.
16
For you will forget your suffering, recalling [it only] as waters that have flowed by.
17
[Your] life will be brighter than noonday; [its] darkness will be like the morning.
18
You will be confident, because there is hope. You will look carefully about and lie down in safety.
19
You will lie down without fear, and many will seek your favor.
20
But the sight of the wicked will fail. Their way of escape will be cut off, and their [only] hope will be to die.
2
No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you!
3
But I also have a mind; I am not inferior to you. Who doesn't know the things you are talking about?
4
I am a laughingstock to my friends, by calling on God, who answers me. The righteous and upright man is a laughingstock.
5
The one who is at ease holds calamity in contempt [and thinks] it is prepared for those whose feet are slipping.
6
The tents of robbers are safe, and those who provoke God are secure; God's power provides this.
7
But ask the animals, and they will instruct you; [ask] the birds of the sky, and they will tell you.
8
Or speak to the earth, and it will instruct you; let the fish of the sea inform you.
9
Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?
10
The life of every living thing is in His hand, as well as the breath of all mankind.
11
Doesn't the ear test words as the palate tastes food?
12
Wisdom is found with the elderly, and understanding comes with long life.
13
Wisdom and strength belong to God; counsel and understanding are His.
14
Whatever He tears down cannot be rebuilt; whoever He imprisons cannot be released.
15
When He withholds the waters, everything dries up, and when He releases them, they destroy the land.
16
True wisdom and power belong to Him. The deceived and the deceiver are His.
17
He leads counselors away barefoot and makes judges go mad.
18
He releases the bonds put on by kings and ties a cloth around their waists.
19
He leads priests away barefoot and overthrows established leaders.
20
He deprives trusted advisers of speech and takes away the elders' good judgment.
21
He pours out contempt on nobles and disarms the strong.
22
He reveals mysteries from the darkness and brings the deepest darkness into the light.
23
He makes nations great, then destroys them; He enlarges nations, then leads them away.
24
He deprives the world's leaders of reason, and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.
25
They grope around in darkness without light; He makes them stagger like drunken men.
