81 Then Bildad the Shuhite made answer and said, 2 How long will you say these things, and how long will the words of your mouth be like a strong wind? 3 Does God give wrong decisions? or is the Ruler of all not upright in his judging? 4 If your children have done evil against him, then their punishment is from his hand. 5 If you will make search for God with care, and put your request before the Ruler of all; 6 If you are clean and upright; then he will certainly be moved to take up your cause, and will make clear your righteousness by building up your house again. 7 And though your start was small, your end will be very great.
8 Put the question now to the past generations, and give attention to what has been searched out by their fathers: 9 (For we are but of yesterday, and have no knowledge, because our days on earth are gone like a shade:) 10 Will they not give you teaching, and say words of wisdom to you? 11 Will the river-plant come up in its pride without wet earth? will the grass get tall without water? 12 When it is still green, without being cut down, it becomes dry and dead before any other plant. 13 So is the end of all who do not keep God in mind; and the hope of the evil-doer comes to nothing: 14 Whose support is cut off, and whose hope is no stronger than a spider's thread. 15 He is looking to his family for support, but it is not there; he puts his hope in it, but it comes to nothing. 16 He is full of strength before the sun, and his branches go out over his garden. 17 His roots are twisted round the stones, forcing their way in between them. 18 If he is taken away from his place, then it will say, I have not seen you. 19 Such is the joy of his way, and out of the dust another comes up to take his place.
20 Truly, God will not give up him who is without sin, and will not take evil-doers by the hand. 21 The time will come when your mouth will be full of laughing, and cries of joy will come from your lips. 22 Your haters will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the sinner will not be seen again.
91 And Job made answer and said, 2 Truly, I see that it is so: and how is it possible for a man to get his right before God? 3 If a man was desiring to go to law with him, he would not be able to give him an answer to one out of a thousand questions. 4 He is wise in heart and great in strength: who ever made his face hard against him, and any good came of it? 5 It is he who takes away the mountains without their knowledge, overturning them in his wrath: 6 Who is moving the earth out of its place, so that its pillars are shaking: 7 Who gives orders to the sun, and it does not give its light; and who keeps the stars from shining. 8 By whose hand the heavens were stretched out, and who is walking on the waves of the sea: 9 Who made the Bear and Orion, and the Pleiades, and the store-houses of the south: 10 Who does great things not to be searched out; yes, wonders without number. 11 See, he goes past me and I see him not: he goes on before, but I have no knowledge of him. 12 If he puts out his hand to take, by whom may it be turned back? who may say to him, What are you doing? 13 God's wrath may not be turned back; the helpers of Rahab were bent down under him.
14 How much less may I give an answer to him, using the right words in argument with him? 15 Even if my cause was good, I would not be able to give an answer; I would make request for grace from him who was against me. 16 If I had sent for him to be present, and he had come, I would have no faith that he would give ear to my voice. 17 For I would be crushed by his storm, my wounds would be increased without cause. 18 He would not let me take my breath, but I would be full of bitter grief. 19 If it is a question of strength, he says, Here I am! and if it is a question of a cause at law, he says, Who will give me a fixed day? 20 Though I was in the right, he would say that I was in the wrong; I have done no evil; but he says that I am a sinner. 21 I have done no wrong; I give no thought to what becomes of me; I have no desire for life.
22 It is all the same to me; so I say, He puts an end to the sinner and to him who has done no wrong together. 23 If death comes suddenly through disease, he makes sport of the fate of those who have done no wrong. 24 The land is given into the power of the evil-doer; the faces of its judges are covered; if not by him, then who has done it?
25 My days go quicker than a post-runner: they go in flight, they see no good. 26 They go rushing on like reed-boats, like an eagle dropping suddenly on its food. 27 If I say, I will put my grief out of mind, I will let my face be sad no longer and I will be bright; 28 I go in fear of all my pains; I am certain that I will not be free from sin in your eyes. 29 You will not let me be clear of sin! why then do I take trouble for nothing? 30 If I am washed with snow water, and make my hands clean with soap; 31 Then you will have me pushed into the dust, so that I will seem disgusting to my very clothing. 32 For he is not a man as I am, that I might give him an answer, that we might come together before a judge. 33 There is no one to give a decision between us, who might have control over us. 34 Let him take away his rod from me and not send his fear on me: 35 Then I would say what is in my mind without fear of him; for there is no cause of fear in myself.
101 My soul is tired of life; I will let my sad thoughts go free in words; my soul will make a bitter outcry. 2 I will say to God, Do not put me down as a sinner; make clear to me what you have against me. 3 What profit is it to you to be cruel, to give up the work of your hands, looking kindly on the design of evil-doers? 4 Have you eyes of flesh, or do you see as man sees? 5 Are your days as the days of man, or your years like his, 6 That you take note of my sin, searching after my wrongdoing, 7 Though you see that I am not an evil-doer; and there is no one who is able to take a man out of your hands?
8 Your hands made me, and I was formed by you, but then, changing your purpose, you gave me up to destruction. 9 O keep in mind that you made me out of earth; and will you send me back again to dust? 10 Was I not drained out like milk, becoming hard like cheese? 11 By you I was clothed with skin and flesh, and joined together with bones and muscles. 12 You have been kind to me, and your grace has been with me, and your care has kept my spirit safe. 13 But you kept these things in the secret of your heart; I am certain this was in your thoughts:
14 That, if I did wrong, you would take note of it, and would not make me clear from sin: 15 That, if I was an evil-doer, the curse would come on me; and if I was upright, my head would not be lifted up, being full of shame and overcome with trouble. 16 And that if there was cause for pride, you would go after me like a lion; and again put out your wonders against me: 17 That you would send new witnesses against me, increasing your wrath against me, and letting loose new armies on me. 18 Why then did you make me come out of my mother's body? It would have been better for me to have taken my last breath, and for no eye to have seen me, 19 And for me to have been as if I had not been; to have been taken from my mother's body straight to my last resting-place. 20 Are not the days of my life small in number? Let your eyes be turned away from me, so that I may have a little pleasure, 21 Before I go to the place from which I will not come back, to the land where all is dark and black, 22 A land of thick dark, without order, where the very light is dark.
