Study Desk

"For the wicked person is spared a day of disaster; They are led away from a day of fury.

"Can a strong man be of use to God, Or a wise one be useful to himself?

Or darkness, so that you cannot see, And a flood of water covers you.

'Clouds are a hiding place for Him, so that He cannot see; And He walks on the vault of heaven.'

Who were snatched away before their time, Whose foundations were washed away by a river?

"They drive away the donkeys of orphans; They seize the widow's ox as a pledge.

"They are wet from the mountain rains, And they hug the rock for lack of a shelter.

"Others snatch an orphan from the breast, And they seize it as a pledge against the poor.

"The murderer arises at dawn; He kills the poor and the needy, And at night he is like a thief.

"A mother will forget him; The maggot feeds sweetly until he is no longer remembered. And injustice will be broken like a tree.

"They are exalted a little while, then they are gone; Moreover, they are brought low, and like everything they are gathered up; Like the heads of grain they wither.

"Now if it is not so, who can prove me a liar, And make my speech worthless?"

How much less man, that maggot, And a son of man, that worm!"

"What a help you are to the weak! You have saved the arm without strength!

"He has inscribed a circle on the surface of the waters At the boundary of light and darkness.

"Behold, these are the fringes of His ways; And how faint a word we hear of Him! But His mighty thunder, who can understand?"

"This is the portion of a wicked person from God, And the inheritance which tyrants receive from the Almighty:

"He has built his house like the spider's web, Or a hut which the watchman has made.

"Terrors overtake him like a flood; A storm steals him away in the night.

"Certainly there is a mine for silver And a place for refining gold.