[1] Then Job answered and said, [2] “Even today my musing is rebellion; His hand is heavy despite my groaning. [3] “Oh that I knew where I might find Him, That I might come to His seat! [4] “I would arrange my case for justice before Him And fill my mouth with arguments. [5] “I would know the words which He would answer, And discern what He would say to me. [6] “Would He contend with me by the greatness of His power? No, surely He would pay attention to me. [7] “There the upright would argue with Him; And I would have escaped forever from my Judge. [8] “Behold, I go forward but He is not there, And backward, but I cannot discern Him; [9] When He acts on the left, I cannot behold Him; He turns on the right, I cannot see Him. [10] “But He knows the way I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. [11] “My foot has held fast to His path; I have kept His way and not turned aside. [12] “I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my portion of food. [13] “But He is unique and who can turn Him? And what His soul desires, that He does. [14] “For He performs what is apportioned for me, And many such decrees are with Him. [15] “Therefore, I would be dismayed at His presence; I carefully consider, and I am in dread of Him. [16] “It is God who has made my heart faint, And the Almighty who has dismayed me, [17] But I am not silenced by the darkness, Nor thick darkness which covers me.
