<t /><p class="poetry">&#8220;O earth, do not cover my blood,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">nor let there be a secret<n id="2" /> place for my cry.p>

<p class="poetry">My guests<n id="1" /> and my servant girlsp> <p class="poetry">consider<n id="2" /> me a stranger;p> <p class="poetry">I am a foreigner<n id="3" /> in their eyes.p>

<p class="poetry">How often<n id="1" /> are they like straw before the wind,p> <p class="poetry">and like chaff swept away<n id="2" /> by a whirlwind?p>

<p class="poetry">just as I was in my most productive time,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">when God&#8217;s intimate friendship<n id="2" /> was experienced in my tent,p>

<t /><p class="poetry">&#8220;Where were youp> <p class="poetry">when I laid the foundation<n id="1" /> of the earth?p> <p class="poetry">Tell me,<n id="2" /> if you possess understanding!p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">Now the day came when<n id="2" /> the sons of God<n id="3" /> came to present themselves before<n id="4" /> the <sc>Lordsc> &#8211; and Satan<n id="5" /> also arrived among them.

<t /><p class="bodytext">Now the day<n id="2" /> came when Job&#8217;s<n id="3" /> sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother&#8217;s house,

and a messenger came to Job, saying, &#8220;The oxen were plowing<n id="1" /> and the donkeys were grazing beside them,

<p class="poetry">That day<n id="1" /> &#8211; let it be darkness;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">let not God on high regard<n id="3" /> it,p> <p class="poetry">nor let light shine<n id="4" /> on it!p>

<p class="poetry">Indeed,<n id="1" /> let that night be barren;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">let no shout of joy<n id="3" /> penetrate<n id="4" /> it!p>

<p class="poetry">Or why<n id="1" /> was<n id="2" /> I not buried<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">like a stillborn infant,<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">like infants<n id="5" /> who have never seen the light?<n id="6" />p>

<p class="poetry">Then I would yet have my comfort,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">then<n id="2" /> I would rejoice,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">in spite of pitiless pain,<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">for<n id="5" /> I have not concealed the words<n id="6" /> of the Holy One.<n id="7" />p>

<p class="poetry">Relent,<n id="1" /> let there be no falsehood;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">reconsider,<n id="3" /> for my righteousness is intact!<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">For<n id="1" /> then you will lift up your facep> <p class="poetry">without<n id="2" /> blemish;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">you will be securely established<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">and will not fear.p>

<p class="poetry">I am<n id="1" /> a laughingstock<n id="2" /> to my friends,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">I, who called on God and whom he answered<n id="4" /> &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">a righteous and blameless<n id="5" /> manp> <p class="poetry">is a laughingstock!p>

<p class="poetry">I was in peace, and he has shattered me.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">He has seized me by the neck and crushed me.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">He has made me his target;p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;While he is<n id="1" /> filling his belly,p> <p class="poetry">God<n id="2" /> sends his burning anger<n id="3" /> against him,p> <p class="poetry">and rains down his blows upon him.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">There are those<n id="1" /> who rebel against the light;p> <p class="poetry">they do not know its waysp> <p class="poetry">and they do not stay on its paths.p>

<p class="poetry">Before daybreak<n id="1" /> the murderer rises up;p> <p class="poetry">he kills the poor and the needy;p> <p class="poetry">in the night he is<n id="2" /> like a thief.<n id="3" />p>

His possessions<n id="1" /> included<n id="2" /> 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys; in addition he had a very great household.<n id="3" /> Thus he<n id="4" /> was the greatest of all the people in the east.<n id="5" />p>