“I am young in years,
    and you are aged;
therefore I was timid and afraid
    to declare my opinion to you.
⁷ I said, ‘Let days speak,
    and many years teach wisdom.’
⁸ But it is the spirit in man,
    the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand.
⁹ It is not the old^[a] who are wise,
    nor the aged who understand what is right.
¹⁰ Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me;
    let me also declare my opinion.’

¹¹ “Behold, I waited for your words,
    I listened for your wise sayings,
    while you searched out what to say.
¹² I gave you my attention,
    and, behold, there was none among you who refuted Job
    or who answered his words.
¹³ Beware lest you say, ‘We have found wisdom;
    God may vanquish him, not a man.’
¹⁴ He has not directed his words against me,
    and I will not answer him with your speeches.

¹⁵ “They are dismayed; they answer no more;
    they have not a word to say.
¹⁶ And shall I wait, because they do not speak,
    because they stand there, and answer no more?
¹⁷ I also will answer with my share;
    I also will declare my opinion.
¹⁸ For I am full of words;
    the spirit within me constrains me.
¹⁹ Behold, my belly is like wine that has no vent;
    like new wineskins ready to burst.
²⁰ I must speak, that I may find relief;
    I must open my lips and answer.
²¹ I will not show partiality to any man
    or use flattery toward any person.
²² For I do not know how to flatter,
    else my Maker would soon take me away.