Job Affirms God's Power and Wisdom

121 Then Job responded e , 2 "Truly then you are the people , And with you wisdom will die ! 3 "But I have intelligence as well as you; I am not inferior to you. And who does not know such things as these ? 4 "I am a joke to my friends , The one who called on God and He answered him; The just and blameless man is a joke . 5 "He who is at ease holds calamity in contempt , As prepared for those whose feet slip .

6 "The tents of the destroyers prosper , And those who provoke God are secure , Whom God brings into their power . 7 "But now ask the beasts , and let them teach you; And the birds of the heavens , and let them tell you. 8 "Or speak to the earth , and let it teach you; And let the fish of the sea declare to you. 9 "Who among all these does not know That the hand of the Lord has done this , 10 In whose hand is the life of every living thing , And the breath of all mankind e ? 11 "Does not the ear test words , As the palate tastes its food ?

12 "Wisdom is with aged men , With long life is understanding . 13 "With Him are wisdom and might ; To Him belong counsel and understanding . 14 "Behold , He tears down , and it cannot be rebuilt ; He imprisons a man , and there can be no release . 15 "Behold , He restrains the waters , and they dry up; And He sends them out, and they inundate the earth . 16 "With Him are strength and sound wisdom , The misled and the misleader belong to Him. 17 "He makes counselors walk barefoot And makes fools of judges . 18 "He loosens the bond of kings And binds their loins with a girdle . 19 "He makes priests walk barefoot And overthrows the secure ones . 20 "He deprives the trusted ones of speech And takes away the discernment of the elders . 21 "He pours contempt on nobles And loosens the belt of the strong . 22 "He reveals mysteries from the darkness And brings the deep darkness into light . 23 "He makes the nations great , then destroys them; He enlarges the nations , then leads them away. 24 "He deprives of intelligence the chiefs of the earth's people And makes them wander in a pathless e waste . 25 "They grope in darkness with no light , And He makes them stagger like a drunken man .

Job Bewails His Birth

31 Afterward e Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 And Job said e , 3 " Let the day perish on which I was to be born , And the night which said , 'A boy is conceived .' 4 "May that day be darkness ; Let not God above care for it, Nor light shine on it. 5 "Let darkness and black gloom claim it; Let a cloud settle on it; Let the blackness of the day terrify it. 6 "As for that night , let darkness seize it; Let it not rejoice among the days of the year ; Let it not come into the number of the months . 7 "Behold , let that night be barren ; Let no joyful shout enter it. 8 "Let those curse it who curse the day , Who are prepared to rouse Leviathan . 9 "Let the stars of its twilight be darkened ; Let it wait for light but have none , And let it not see the breaking dawn ; 10 Because it did not shut the opening of my mother's womb , Or hide trouble from my eyes .

11 " Why did I not die at birth , Come forth from the womb and expire ? 12 "Why did the knees receive me, And why the breasts , that I should suck ? 13 "For now I would have lain down and been quiet ; I would have slept then , I would have been at rest , 14 With kings and with counselors of the earth , Who rebuilt ruins for themselves; 15 Or with princes who had gold , Who were filling their houses with silver . 16 "Or like a miscarriage which is discarded , I would not be, As infants that never saw light . 17 "There the wicked cease from raging , And there the weary are at rest . 18 "The prisoners are at ease together ; They do not hear the voice of the taskmaster . 19 "The small and the great are there , And the slave is free from his master .

20 "Why is light given to him who suffers , And life to the bitter of soul , 21 Who long for death , but there is none , And dig for it more than for hidden treasures , 22 Who rejoice greatly , And exult when they find the grave ? 23 "Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden , And whom God has hedged in? 24 "For my groaning comes at the sight of my food , And my cries pour out like water . 25 "For what I fear comes upon me, And what I dread befalls me. 26 "I am not at ease , nor am I quiet , And I am not at rest , but turmoil comes ."