Study Desk

"Then I thought, 'I will die with my family, And I will multiply my days as the sand.

'My glory is ever new with me, And my bow is renewed in my hand.'

"But now those who are younger than I mock me, Whose fathers I refused to put with the dogs of my flock.

"You have become cruel to me; With the strength of Your hand You persecute me.

"Yet does one in a heap of ruins not reach out with his hand, Or in his disaster does he not cry out for help?

"My skin turns black on me, And my bones burn with fever.

"I have made a covenant with my eyes; How then could I look at a virgin?

"If I have walked with deception, And my foot has hurried after deceit,

Let Him weigh me with accurate scales, And let God know my integrity.

(But from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, And from my infancy I guided her),

If his waist has not thanked me, And if he has not been warmed with the fleece of my sheep,

"Have the people of my tent not said, 'Who can find one who has not been satisfied with his meat'?

"But he has not presented his words against me, Nor will I reply to him with your arguments.

Then He opens the ears of people, And horrifies them with warnings,

"A person is also rebuked by pain in his bed, And with constant complaint in his bones,

Then he will pray to God, and He will accept him, So that he may see His face with joy, And He will restore His righteousness to that person.

To bring back his soul from the pit, So that he may be enlightened with the light of life.

Who goes in company with the workers of injustice, And walks with wicked people?

"For he has said, 'It is of no use to a man When he becomes friends with God.'

"Do you think this is in accordance with justice? Do you say, 'My righteousness is more than God's'?