then let thorns sprout up in place of wheat, and in place of barley, weeds!” The words of Job are ended.

The mighty lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

“Can you discover the essence of God? Can you find out the perfection of the Almighty?

Then Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became very angry. He was angry with Job for justifying himself rather than God.

There is the roaring of the lion and the growling of the young lion, but the teeth of the young lions are broken.

Indeed, this is the joy of his way, and out of the earth others spring up.

But you, however, are inventors of lies; all of you are worthless physicians!

Indeed, these are but the outer fringes of his ways! How faint is the whisper we hear of him! But who can understand the thunder of his power?”

The caravans of Tema looked intently for these streams; the traveling merchants of Sheba hoped for them.

“And now my soul pours itself out within me; days of suffering take hold of me.

Its snorting throws out flashes of light; its eyes are like the red glow of dawn.

Of coral and jasper no mention will be made; the price of wisdom is more than pearls.

Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of deepest darkness?

in whose hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all the human race.

A club is counted as a piece of straw; it laughs at the rattling of the lance.

“For inquire now of the former generation, and pay attention to the findings of their ancestors;

Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this,

And so Job died, old and full of days.

He deprives the leaders of the earth of their understanding; he makes them wander in a trackless desert waste.

He draws near to the place of corruption, and his life to the messengers of death.