| 1 | Then Job answered: |
| 2 | "Truly I know that it is so: But how can a man be just before God? |
| 3 | If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times. |
| 4 | He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength -- who has hardened himself against him, and succeeded? -- |
| 5 | he who removes mountains, and they know it not, when he overturns them in his anger; |
| 6 | who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble; |
| 7 | who commands the sun, and it does not rise; who seals up the stars; |
| 8 | who alone stretched out the heavens, and trampled the waves of the sea; |
| 9 | who made the Bear and Orion, the Plei'ades and the chambers of the south; |
| 10 | who does great things beyond understanding, and marvelous things without number. |
| 11 | Lo, he passes by me, and I see him not; he moves on, but I do not perceive him. |
| 12 | Behold, he snatches away; who can hinder him? Who will say to him, `What doest thou'? |
| 13 | "God will not turn back his anger; beneath him bowed the helpers of Rahab. |
| 14 | How then can I answer him, choosing my words with him? |
| 15 | Though I am innocent, I cannot answer him; I must appeal for mercy to my accuser. |
| 16 | If I summoned him and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice. |
| 17 | For he crushes me with a tempest, and multiplies my wounds without cause; |
| 18 | he will not let me get my breath, but fills me with bitterness. |
| 19 | If it is a contest of strength, behold him! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him? |
| 20 | Though I am innocent, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse. |
| 21 | I am blameless; I regard not myself; I loathe my life. |
| 22 | It is all one; therefore I say, he destroys both the blameless and the wicked. |
| 23 | When disaster brings sudden death, he mocks at the calamity of the innocent. |
| 24 | The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he covers the faces of its judges -- if it is not he, who then is it? |
| 25 | "My days are swifter than a runner; they flee away, they see no good. |
| 26 | They go by like skiffs of reed, like an eagle swooping on the prey. |
| 27 | If I say, `I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad countenance, and be of good cheer,' |
| 28 | I become afraid of all my suffering, for I know thou wilt not hold me innocent. |
| 29 | I shall be condemned; why then do I labor in vain? |
| 30 | If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with lye, |
| 31 | yet thou wilt plunge me into a pit, and my own clothes will abhor me. |
| 32 | For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together. |
| 33 | There is no umpire between us, who might lay his hand upon us both. |
| 34 | Let him take his rod away from me, and let not dread of him terrify me. |
| 35 | Then I would speak without fear of him, for I am not so in myself. |
| 1 | "I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. |
| 2 | I will say to God, Do not condemn me; let me know why thou dost contend against me. |
| 3 | Does it seem good to thee to oppress, to despise the work of thy hands and favor the designs of the wicked? |
| 4 | Hast thou eyes of flesh? Dost thou see as man sees? |
| 5 | Are thy days as the days of man, or thy years as man's years, |
| 6 | that thou dost seek out my iniquity and search for my sin, |
| 7 | although thou knowest that I am not guilty, and there is none to deliver out of thy hand? |
| 8 | Thy hands fashioned and made me; and now thou dost turn about and destroy me. |
| 9 | Remember that thou hast made me of clay; and wilt thou turn me to dust again? |
| 10 | Didst thou not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese? |
| 11 | Thou didst clothe me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews. |
| 12 | Thou hast granted me life and steadfast love; and thy care has preserved my spirit. |
| 13 | Yet these things thou didst hide in thy heart; I know that this was thy purpose. |
| 14 | If I sin, thou dost mark me, and dost not acquit me of my iniquity. |
| 15 | If I am wicked, woe to me! If I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head, for I am filled with disgrace and look upon my affliction. |
| 16 | And if I lift myself up, thou dost hunt me like a lion, and again work wonders against me; |
| 17 | thou dost renew thy witnesses against me, and increase thy vexation toward me; thou dost bring fresh hosts against me. |
| 18 | "Why didst thou bring me forth from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me, |
| 19 | and were as though I had not been, carried from the womb to the grave. |
| 20 | Are not the days of my life few? Let me alone, that I may find a little comfort |
| 21 | before I go whence I shall not return, to the land of gloom and deep darkness, |
| 22 | the land of gloom and chaos, where light is as darkness." |
