men who were carried off before their time, when the flood was poured out on their foundations?

“If I go to the east, he is not there, and to the west, yet I do not perceive him.

My feet have followed his steps closely; I have kept to his way and have not turned aside.

I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my allotted portion.

But God drags off the mighty by his power; when God rises up against him, he has no faith in his life.

He locks the waters in his clouds, and the clouds do not burst with the weight of them.

I will maintain my righteousness and never let it go; my conscience will not reproach me for as long as I live.

He goes to bed wealthy, but will do so no more. When he opens his eyes, it is all gone.

It hurls itself against him without pity as he flees headlong from its power.

a hidden path no bird of prey knows – no falcon’s eye has spotted it.

Mankind does not know its place; it cannot be found in the land of the living.

Fine gold cannot be given in exchange for it, nor can its price be weighed out in silver.

for I rescued the poor who cried out for help, and the orphan who had no one to assist him;

I cry out to you, but you do not answer me; I stand up, and you only look at me.

My heart is in turmoil unceasingly; the days of my affliction confront me.

If I ate my morsel of bread myself, and did not share any of it with orphans –

I have not even permitted my mouth to sin by asking for his life through a curse –

Job has not directed his words to me, and so I will not reply to him with your arguments.

But no one says, ‘Where is God, my Creator, who gives songs in the night,

Then they cry out – but he does not answer – because of the arrogance of the wicked.