² “Dominion and fear are with God;^[a]
    he makes peace in his high heaven.
³ Is there any number to his armies?
    Upon whom does his light not arise?
⁴ How then can man be in the right before God?
    How can he who is born of woman be pure?
⁵ Behold, even the moon is not bright,
    and the stars are not pure in his eyes;
⁶ how much less man, who is a maggot,
    and the son of man, who is a worm!”

² “How you have helped him who has no power!
    How you have saved the arm that has no strength!
³ How you have counseled him who has no wisdom,
    and plentifully declared sound knowledge!
⁴ With whose help have you uttered words,
    and whose breath has come out from you?
⁵ The dead tremble
    under the waters and their inhabitants.
⁶ Sheol is naked before God,^[b]
    and Abaddon has no covering.
⁷ He stretches out the north over the void
    and hangs the earth on nothing.
⁸ He binds up the waters in his thick clouds,
    and the cloud is not split open under them.
⁹ He covers the face of the full moon^[c]
    and spreads over it his cloud.
¹⁰ He has inscribed a circle on the face of the waters
    at the boundary between light and darkness.
¹¹ The pillars of heaven tremble
    and are astounded at his rebuke.
¹² By his power he stilled the sea;
    by his understanding he shattered Rahab.
¹³ By his wind the heavens were made fair;
    his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
¹⁴ Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways,
    and how small a whisper do we hear of him!
    But the thunder of his power who can understand?”

² “As God lives, who has taken away my right,
    and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,
³ as long as my breath is in me,
    and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,
⁴ my lips will not speak falsehood,
    and my tongue will not utter deceit.
⁵ Far be it from me to say that you are right;
    till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
⁶ I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go;
    my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.

⁷ “Let my enemy be as the wicked,
    and let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous.
⁸ For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts him off,
    when God takes away his life?
⁹ Will God hear his cry
    when distress comes upon him?
¹⁰ Will he take delight in the Almighty?
    Will he call upon God at all times?
¹¹ I will teach you concerning the hand of God;
    what is with the Almighty I will not conceal.
¹² Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves;
    why then have you become altogether vain?

¹³ “This is the portion of a wicked man with God,
    and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty:
¹⁴ If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword,
    and his descendants have not enough bread.
¹⁵ Those who survive him the pestilence buries,
    and his widows do not weep.
¹⁶ Though he heap up silver like dust,
    and pile up clothing like clay,
¹⁷ he may pile it up, but the righteous will wear it,
    and the innocent will divide the silver.
¹⁸ He builds his house like a moth's,
    like a booth that a watchman makes.
¹⁹ He goes to bed rich, but will do so no more;
    he opens his eyes, and his wealth is gone.
²⁰ Terrors overtake him like a flood;
    in the night a whirlwind carries him off.
²¹ The east wind lifts him up and he is gone;
    it sweeps him out of his place.
²² It^[d] hurls at him without pity;
    he flees from its^[e] power in headlong flight.
²³ It claps its hands at him
    and hisses at him from its place.

⁷ “That path no bird of prey knows,
    and the falcon's eye has not seen it.
⁸ The proud beasts have not trodden it;
    the lion has not passed over it.

⁹ “Man puts his hand to the flinty rock
    and overturns mountains by the roots.
¹⁰ He cuts out channels in the rocks,
    and his eye sees every precious thing.
¹¹ He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle,
    and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light.

¹² “But where shall wisdom be found?
    And where is the place of understanding?
¹³ Man does not know its worth,
    and it is not found in the land of the living.
¹⁴ The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’
    and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
¹⁵ It cannot be bought for gold,
    and silver cannot be weighed as its price.
¹⁶ It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
    in precious onyx or sapphire.
¹⁷ Gold and glass cannot equal it,
    nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
¹⁸ No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal;
    the price of wisdom is above pearls.
¹⁹ The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,
    nor can it be valued in pure gold.

²⁰ “From where, then, does wisdom come?
    And where is the place of understanding?
²¹ It is hidden from the eyes of all living
    and concealed from the birds of the air.
²² Abaddon and Death say,
    ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’

²³ “God understands the way to it,
    and he knows its place.
²⁴ For he looks to the ends of the earth
    and sees everything under the heavens.
²⁵ When he gave to the wind its weight
    and apportioned the waters by measure,
²⁶ when he made a decree for the rain
    and a way for the lightning of the thunder,
²⁷ then he saw it and declared it;
    he established it, and searched it out.
²⁸ And he said to man,
‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
    and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

¹⁰ Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!
Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved;
he will judge the peoples with equity.”

¹¹ Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
¹² let the field exult, and everything in it!
Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
¹³ before the Lord, for he comes,
for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness,
and the peoples in his faithfulness.