his food is turned sour in his stomach; it becomes the venom of serpents within him.

Is it because of your piety that he rebukes you and goes to judgment with you?

whose heart did not bless me as he warmed himself with the fleece of my sheep,

Therefore no fear of me should terrify you, nor should my pressure be heavy on you.

“Do you hunt prey for the lioness, and satisfy the appetite of the lions,

“I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted;

So he saves from the sword that comes from their mouth, even the poor from the hand of the powerful.

“This is why my troubled thoughts bring me back – because of my feelings within me.

If it is a matter of strength, most certainly he is the strong one! And if it is a matter of justice, he will say, ‘Who will summon me?’

You will be protected from malicious gossip, and will not be afraid of the destruction when it comes.

Or speak to the earth and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea declare to you.

If your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.

and he contends with God on behalf of man as a man pleads for his friend.

My words come from the uprightness of my heart, and my lips will utter knowledge sincerely.

“Indeed, you have said in my hearing (I heard the sound of the words!):

But the eyes of the wicked fail, and escape eludes them; their one hope is to breathe their last.”

“Therefore, blessed is the man whom God corrects, so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

Or ‘Deliver me from the enemy’s power, and from the hand of tyrants ransom me’?

“Does not humanity have hard service on earth? Are not their days also like the days of a hired man?

my face is reddened because of weeping, and on my eyelids there is a deep darkness,