| 1 Then Job answered: | |
| 2 Very well I know that it is so. But how can a mortal be just before God? | |
| 3 If one were to contend with him, not once in a thousand times would he answer. | |
| 4 His power is vast, his wisdom profound. Who has resisted him and come out unharmed? | |
| 5 He moves mountains before they are aware; he overturns them in his rage. | |
| 6 He makes the earth tremble and its pillars quake. | |
| 7 He commands the sun, and it does not shine; he seals off the light of the stars. | |
| 8 He alone stretches out the skies and treads on the waves of the seas. | |
| 9 He made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and every constellation. | |
| 10 His wonders are past all reckoning, his miracles beyond all counting. | |
| 11 He passes by, but I do not see him; he moves on, but I do not notice him. | |
| 12 If he snatches away, who can stop him? Who can say to him, “What are you doing?” | |
| 13 God does not turn back when angered; before him Rahab’s cohorts cowered. | |
| 14 How then can I answer him and find words to argue with him? | |
| 15 If he does not answer when I am right, shall I plead with my judge for mercy? | |
| 16 Even if I appealed and he answered, I do not believe that he would have heard. | |
| 17 He who crushes me for a trifle and multiplies my hurt for no reason. | |
| 18 He does not give me time to breathe, but fills me with grief without pause. | |
| 19 If it is a contest of strength, he is mighty. If a matter of justice, who will summon him? | |
| 20 If I were innocent, my own mouth would condemn me; if blameless, it would pronounce me guilty. | |
| 21 But am I innocent, after all? I do not know, and so I find my life despicable. | |
| 22 It is all the same! And this I dare say: both blameless and wicked – he destroys. | |
| 23 When disaster brings sudden death, he mocks the despair of the innocent. | |
| 24 When a nation falls into a tyrant’s hand, it is he who makes the judges blind. But if it is not he – who else then? | |
| 25 Swifter than a runner are my days; without a shred of joy they fly away. | |
| 26 They skim along like reed canoes or like eagles swooping on their prey. | |
| 27 If I resolve to forget my affliction, to smile and change my expression, | |
| 28 my trials make me fear for I know I shall be held accountable. | |
| 29 In any case if I am to be condemned, why should I bother in vain? | |
| 30 If I washed my body with snow and cleansed my hands with soap, | |
| 31 you would plunge me into the dung pit, and my very clothes would abhor me. | |
| 32 He is not a man like me that I might say, “let us go to court together.” | |
| 33 Would that there were an arbiter between us, who could lay his hand upon both of us. | |
| 34 He would remove from me the rod of God and his terrors which frighten me. | |
| 35 But it is not so. Then I will speak to myself alone without fear. | |
