3. The wise don’t engage in empty chatter.What good are such words?
4. Have you no fear of God,no reverence for him?
5. Your sins are telling your mouth what to say.Your words are based on clever deception.
6. Your own mouth condemns you, not I.Your own lips testify against you.
7. “Were you the first person ever born?Were you born before the hills were made?
8. Were you listening at God’s secret council?Do you have a monopoly on wisdom?
9. What do you know that we don’t?What do you understand that we do not?
10. On our side are aged, gray-haired menmuch older than your father!
11. “Is God’s comfort too little for you?Is his gentle word not enough?
12. What has taken away your reason?What has weakened your vision,
13. that you turn against Godand say all these evil things?
14. Can any mortal be pure?Can anyone born of a woman be just?
15. Look, God does not even trust the angels.Even the heavens are not absolutely pure in his sight.
16. How much less pure is a corrupt and sinful personwith a thirst for wickedness!
17. “If you will listen, I will show you.I will answer you from my own experience.
18. And it is confirmed by the reports of wise menwho have heard the same thing from their fathers—
19. from those to whom the land was givenlong before any foreigners arrived.
20. “The wicked writhe in pain throughout their lives.Years of trouble are stored up for the ruthless.
21. The sound of terror rings in their ears,and even on good days they fear the attack of the destroyer.
22. They dare not go out into the darknessfor fear they will be murdered.
23. They wander around, saying, ‘Where can I find bread?’They know their day of destruction is near.