Look, I am just like you in relation to God; I too have been molded from clay.

The eye of him who sees me now will see me no more; your eyes will look for me, but I will be gone.

Look, we have investigated this, so it is true. Hear it, and apply it for your own good.”

Look, I waited for you to speak; I listened closely to your wise thoughts,while you were searching for words.

Gaze at the heavens and see; consider the clouds, which are higher than you!

All humanity has seen it; people gaze on it from afar.

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

“I made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I entertain thoughts against a virgin?

And you will be secure, because there is hope; you will be protected and will take your rest in safety.

“Yes, I know what you are thinking, the schemes by which you would wrong me.

Yet God finds occasions with me; he regards me as his enemy!

will you, with him, spread out the clouds, solid as a mirror of molten metal?

Let its morning stars be darkened; let it wait for daylight but find none, nor let it see the first rays of dawn,

If I hope for the grave to be my home, if I spread out my bed in darkness,

If I have refused to give the poor what they desired, or caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

That person sings to others, saying: ‘I have sinned and falsified what is right, but I was not punished according to what I deserved.

“Indeed, my eyes have seen all this, my ears have heard and understood it.

I have refused to touch such things; they are like loathsome food to me.

“Nothing is left for him to devour; that is why his prosperity does not last.

He strikes them for their wickedness, in a place where people can see,