Job

 2 “Listen, YOU wise ones, to my words;

And YOU who know, give ear to me.

 3 For the ear itself makes a test of words,+

Just as the palate tastes when eating.+

 4 Judgment let us choose for ourselves;

Let us know among ourselves what is good.

 5 For Job has said, ‘I certainly am in the right,+

But God* himself has turned aside the judgment of me.+

 6 Against my own judgment do I tell lies?

My severe wound is incurable though there is no transgression.’+

 7 What able-bodied man* is like Job,+

[Who] drinks up derision like water?+

 8 And he is certainly on his way to companionship with practicers of what is hurtful

And to walking with men of wickedness.+

 9 For he has said, ‘An able-bodied man does not profit+

By his taking pleasure in God.’*

10 Therefore, YOU men of heart,+ listen to me.

Far be it from the [true] God* to act wickedly,+

And the Almighty to act unjustly!+

11 For [according to] the way earthling man* acts he will reward+ him,

And according to the path of man* he will cause it to come upon him.

12 Yes, for a fact, God* himself does not act wickedly,+

And the Almighty himself does not pervert judgment.+

13 Who has assigned to him the earth,

And who has appointed [to him] the productive land,* even all of it?

14 If he sets his heart upon anyone,

[If] that one’s spirit and breath he gathers to himself,+

15 All flesh will expire together,

And earthling man* himself will return to the very dust.+

16 So if [you have] understanding, do listen to this;

Do give ear to the sound of my words.

17 Really will anyone hating justice control,+

And if a powerful one is righteous will you pronounce [him] wicked?+

18 Shall one say* to a king, ‘You are good for nothing’?*

To nobles, ‘You are wicked’?+

19 [There is One] who has not shown partiality to princes

And has not given more consideration to the noble+ one than to the lowly one,

For all of them are the work of his hands.+

20 In a moment they die,+ even in the middle of the night;+

The people shake back and forth and pass away,

And powerful ones depart by no hand.+

21 For his eyes are upon the ways of man,*+

And all his steps he sees.

22 There is no darkness nor any deep shadow

For those practicing what is hurtful to conceal themselves there.+

23 For he sets no appointed time for any man

To go to God* in judgment.

24 He breaks powerful ones+ without any investigation,

And he makes others stand up instead of them.+

25 Therefore he recognizes what their works are,+

And he does overthrow [them] at night, and they get crushed.+

26 As wicked ones he does slap them

In the place of onlookers;+

27 For the reason that they have turned aside from following him,+

And none of his ways have they considered,+

28 So as to cause the outcry of the lowly one to come to him;

And so he hears the outcry of the afflicted ones.+

29 When he himself causes quietness, who, then, can condemn?

And when he conceals [his] face,+ who can behold him,

Whether it is toward a nation+ or toward a man,* it being the same thing?

30 So that an apostate man may not reign,+

Nor there be snares+ of the people.

31 For will anyone actually say to God himself,

‘I have borne, although I do not act corruptly;+

32 Although I behold nothing, instruct me yourself;

If any unrighteousness I have committed,

I shall not do [it] again’?+

33 Will he make good for it from your standpoint because you do refuse [judgment],

Because you yourself choose, and not I?

Even what you well know, speak.

34 Men of heart+ themselves will say to me—

Even a wise able-bodied man that is listening to me,

35 ‘Job himself speaks without knowledge,+

And his words are without [his] having insight.’

36 My father, let Job be tested* out to the limit

Over his replies among men of hurtfulness.+

37 For on top of his sin he adds revolt;+

Among us he claps [his hands] and multiplies his sayings against the [true] God!”*+