Do you listen in on God’s secret council? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?

I have sewed sackcloth on my skin, and buried my horn in the dust;

“Why do the wicked go on living, grow old, even increase in power?

Can anyone teach God knowledge, since he judges those that are on high?

Together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover over them both.

“Even today my complaint is still bitter; his hand is heavy despite my groaning.

Is it not misfortune for the unjust, and disaster for those who work iniquity?

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

He shatters the great without inquiry, and sets up others in their place.

So Job opens his mouth to no purpose; without knowledge he multiplies words.”

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

Under the lotus trees it lies, in the secrecy of the reeds and the marsh.

Can you fill its hide with harpoons or its head with fishing spears?

They lock tightly together, one to the next; they cling together and cannot be separated.

Arrows do not make it flee; slingstones become like chaff to it.

Arrogant people cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who behave wickedly.

See the one who is pregnant with wickedness, who conceives destructive plans, and gives birth to harmful lies –

I will sing praises to the Lord when he vindicates me.

They confronted me in my day of calamity, but the Lord helped me.

Such godly people are rewarded by the Lord, and vindicated by the God who delivers them.