“Surely you know that it has been from old, ever since humankind was placed on the earth,

They are dark because of ice; snow is piled up over them.

Its measure is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.

They were banished from the community – people shouted at them like they would shout at thieves –

A tempest blows out from its chamber, icy cold from the driving winds.

that it might seize the corners of the earth, and shake the wicked out of it?

“Now a word was secretly brought to me, and my ear caught a whisper of it.

Is not my power to help myself nothing, and has not every resource been driven from me?

How painful are honest words! But what does your reproof prove?

My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle and they come to an end without hope.

“My days are swifter than a runner, they speed by without seeing happiness.

He reveals the deep things of darkness, and brings deep shadows into the light.

What you know, I know also; I am not inferior to you!

“Refrain from talking with me so that I may speak; then let come to me what may.

As water disappears from the sea, or a river drains away and dries up,

Are God’s consolations too trivial for you; or a word spoken in gentleness to you?

my face is reddened because of weeping, and on my eyelids there is a deep darkness,

“He has put my relatives far from me; my acquaintances only turn away from me.

So they say to God, ‘Turn away from us! We do not want to know your ways.

But their prosperity is not their own doing. The counsel of the wicked is far from me!