But when I hoped for good, trouble came; when I expected light, then darkness came.

When they are scorched, they dry up, when it is hot, they vanish from their place.

Does God listen to his cry when distress overtakes him?

when they crouch in their dens, when they wait in ambush in the thicket?

then what will I do when God confronts me in judgment; when he intervenes, how will I respond to him?

For what hope does the godless have when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?

when the waters become hard like stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen solid?

when the Almighty was still with me and my children were around me;

who rejoice even to jubilation, and are exultant when they find the grave?

When I went out to the city gate and secured my seat in the public square,

When it rises up, the mighty are terrified, at its thrashing about they withdraw.

For, when I think about this, I am terrified and my body feels a shudder.

When he imposed a limit for the rain, and a path for the thunderstorm,

when I made the storm clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band,

when the dust hardens into a mass, and the clumps of earth stick together?

when the morning stars sang in chorus, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Even youngsters have scorned me; when I get up, they scoff at me.

When he made the force of the wind and measured the waters with a gauge.

But when Elihu saw that the three men had no further reply, he became very angry.

The godless at heart nourish anger, they do not cry out even when he binds them.