"Hear my words, you wise men,
and listen to me, you who know,
for the ear tests words,
and the palate tastes food.
Let us choose justice for ourselves;
let us determine among ourselves what is good—
for Job has said, ‘I am righteous,
but God has taken away my justice.
Should I lie concerning my justice?
Though I am without transgression, my wound caused by an arrow is incurable.’
What man is like Job,
who drinks scorn like water?
And he goes on the road in company with instigators of mischief,
and walks with men of wickedness.
Indeed, he says, ‘A man does not profit
when he takes delight in God.’
"Therefore, listen to me, people who have sense:
far be it from God that he should commit wickedness
and that Shaddai should do wrong.
Indeed, he will repay according to a human being’s deeds,
and according to a man’s way he will let it happen to him.
What’s more, God truly does not act wickedly,
and Shaddai does not pervert justice.
Who gave him charge over the earth?
Or who laid on him the whole world?
If he should set his heart to it,
and he should gather his spirit and his breath to himself,
all flesh would perish together,
and humankind would return to dust.
"But if you have understanding, hear this;
listen to what I say.
Shall he who hates justice really govern?
Or will you declare the Righteous One, the Mighty, guilty?—
the one who says to a king,
‘You worthless man,’ to noblemen, ‘You wicked man,’
who shows no partiality to officials
and who does not take note of the noble more than of the insignificant,
for all of them are the work of his hands?
In a moment they die,
and in the middle of the night the people are shaken, and they pass away,
and they take away the mighty effortlessly.
"Indeed, his eyes are upon the ways of man,
and he sees all his steps.
There is no darkness, and there is no deep shadow
where instigators of mischief might hide themselves.
Indeed, he has not yet appointed a time for man
to go to God in the judgment.
He shatters the mighty without investigation,
and he sets others in their place.
Therefore he knows their works,
and he overturns them in the night
so that they are crushed.
He strikes them where the wicked stood,
where there are onlookers,
because they have turned aside from him
and have not understood any of his ways,
so that they cause the cry of distress from the helpless to come to him,
and he hears the cry of distress from the needy,
but he remains quiet, and who can condemn?
And he hides his face, and who can behold him?
Yet he is over a nation and over a person alike,
so that godless human beings should not reign,
nor those who ensnare the people.
"Indeed, does anyone say to God, ‘I have endured chastisement;
I will not act corruptly again;
teach me yourself what I cannot see;
if I have done wrong, I will not repeat it’?
According to your judgment, must he repay it because you rejected this?
Indeed, you must choose, and not I, so declare what you know.
Those who have sense say to me,
and the wise man hearing me says:
‘Job speaks without knowledge,
and his words are without insight.
Would that Job were tested up to the end
because his answers are like those from men of mischief,
for he adds transgression to his sin;
he claps hands among us,
and he multiplies his words against God.’"

"Do you think this is justice when you say,
‘I am right before God’?
If you ask what it profits you:
‘How do I benefit by refraining from my sin?’
I myself will give answer to you
and to your friends with you.
"Look at the heavens, and see;
and observe the clouds that are higher than you.
If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him?
And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him?
If you are righteous, what do you give to him,
or what does he receive from your hand?
Your wickedness affects a person like yourself,
and your righteousness affects humans.
"Because of the multitude of oppressions, they cry out;
they cry for help because of the arm of the mighty.
But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker,
who gives songs in the night,
who teaches us more than the animals of the earth
and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’
There they cry out, but he does not answer
because of the pride of evildoers.
"Surely God does not hear an empty plea,
and Shaddai does not regard it.
How much less when you say that you do not see him,
that the case is before him, and you are waiting for him!
But now, because his anger does not punish,
and he does not acknowledge the transgression at all,
therefore Job opens his mouth in empty talk—
without knowledge he multiplies words."

"Bear with me a little longer, and I will explain,
for I still have something to say on God’s behalf.
I will bring my knowledge from far away,
and I will ascribe righteousness to my maker,
for truly my words are not falsehood;
one who has perfect knowledge is with you.
Look, God is mighty but does not despise anyone;
he is mighty and good in understanding.
He does not keep the wicked alive
but grants justice to the afflicted.
He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous,
but he sets them forever with kings on the throne, and they are exalted.
"And if they are tied up with fetters,
if they are caught in the cords of misery,
then he declares their work to them,
and their transgressions, that they are behaving arrogantly.
So he opens their ear to the discipline,
and he commands that they return from mischief.
If they listen and serve him,
they complete their days in prosperity and their years in pleasantness.
But if they do not listen, they perish by the sword,
and they pass away without knowledge.
And the godless of heart cherish anger;
they do not cry for help when he binds them.
They die in their youth,
and their life ends among the male shrine prostitutes.
He delivers the afflicted by his misery,
and he opens their ears by the adversity.
And what’s more, he allured you out of distress
into a broad place, where in place of it was no constraint;
and what was set on your table is full of fatness.
But you are obsessed with the judgment of the wicked;
judgment and justice take hold of you.
Yes, it is wrath, so that it will not incite you into mockery;
and do not let the ransom’s greatness turn you aside.
Will your cry for help sustain you without distress,
or all the efforts of your strength?
You must not long for the night,
to cut off people in their place.
Take care, you must not turn to mischief,
for because of this you have been tried by misery.
"Look, God is exalted in his power;
who is a teacher like him?
Who has prescribed his way for him?
Or who says, ‘You have done wrong’?
Remember that you should extol his work,
of which people have sung.
All human beings have looked on it;
everyone watches from afar.
"Look, God is exalted, and we do not know him;
the number of his years is unsearchable.
Indeed, he draws up the drops of water;
he distills the rain into its mist,
which the clouds pour down;
they shower abundantly on human beings.
"Moreover, can anyone understand the spreading of clouds,
the thundering of his dwelling place?
Look, he scatters his lightning around him,
and he covers the roots of the sea.
Indeed, he judges people by them;
he gives food in abundance.
He covers his hands with lightning,
and he commands it the place at which to strike.
His thundering tells about him;
the livestock also tell concerning what rises.