[1] Then Job answered: [2] Today also my complaint is bitter. His hand is heavy despite my groaning. [3] If only I knew how to find him, so that I could go to his throne. [4] I would plead my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. [5] I would learn how he would answer me; and understand what he would say to me. [6] Would he prosecute me forcefully? No, he would certainly pay attention to me. [7] Then an upright man could reason with him, and I would escape from my Judge forever. [8] If I go east, he is not there, and if I go west, I cannot perceive him. [9] When he is at work to the north, I cannot see him; when he turns south, I cannot find him. [10] Yet he knows the way I have taken; when he has tested me, I will emerge as pure gold. [11] My feet have followed in his tracks; I have kept to his way and not turned aside. [12] I have not departed from the commands from his lips; I have treasured the words from his mouth more than my daily food. [13] But he is unchangeable; who can oppose him? He does what he desires. [14] He will certainly accomplish what he has decreed for me, and he has many more things like these in mind. [15] Therefore I am terrified in his presence; when I consider this, I am afraid of him. [16] God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me. [17] Yet I am not destroyed by the darkness, by the thick darkness that covers my face.
