¹Then Job replied and said,

²“Indeed I know it is so,

But how can a man be just with God?

³If he were to be pleased to contend with him,

The man could not answer one question out of a thousand.

⁴Who, however wise of heart and mighty in strength,

Ever hardened himself against him

And came off well?

⁵He removes mountains,

But they are unaware of it,

And he overturns them in his anger.

⁶He shakes the earth out of its place,

So that its pillars tremble.

⁷He commands the sun

And it does not rise,

And he sets a seal around the stars.

⁸He stretches out the heavens on his own,

And he treads on the heights of the sea.

⁹He made the Great Bear and Orion,

And the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.

¹⁰He performs great deeds

Which are beyond searching out,

And wonders which are without number.

¹¹Behold, he passes me by,

But I do not see him.

He goes past,

But I do not perceive him.

¹²Behold, when he seizes something,

Who can make him return it?

Who can say to him,

‘What are you doing?’

¹³If God does not avert his anger,

Minions of pride must stoop before him.

¹⁴How much less can I answer him?

How could I choose my words in dispute with him?

¹⁵– When even if I were just,

I would not answer;

I would make my supplication to my judge.

¹⁶Even if I called him, and he answered me,

I would not believe that he had heard my voice.

¹⁷He could crush me with a storm

And multiply my wounds without a cause.

¹⁸He would not allow me to recover my breath,

For he would fill me with bitter things.

¹⁹If it is a matter of strength,

Behold, he is mighty.

And if of justice,

Who will appoint me a hearing?

²⁰If I were to say, ‘I am justified’,

My mouth would be condemning me.

If I were to say, ‘I have integrity’,

It would convict me of perverseness.

²¹If I were to say, ‘I have integrity’,

I would not recognize myself;

I would loathe my life.

²²It is all the same.

That is why I claim,

‘He makes an end of the integrous and wicked alike.’

²³If a scourge suddenly kills,

It makes a mockery of the trial of the innocent.

²⁴The earth has been delivered into the hand of the wicked one;

He has put a veil over the faces of its judges.

If it is not so,

Who, then, is he who is responsible?”

²⁵“Now my days pass more swiftly than a runner.

They fly past;

They do not see goodness.

²⁶They pass with the speed of papyrus boats,

As an eagle swoops after prey.

²⁷If I were to say,

‘I will forget my complaint;

I will ignore my situation

And be cheerful’,

²⁸I would be fearful with all my sorrows;

I would know

That you still wouldn't pronounce me innocent.

²⁹Let me be considered wicked.

Why, then, do I go on struggling in vain?

³⁰If I were to wash myself in snow

And purify my hands with soap,

³¹Then you would still plunge me into the pit,

And even my garments would abhor me.”

³²“For he is not a man like me,

That I should be able to answer him, and say,

‘Let us go together to the court of justice.’

³³There is no arbiter between us,

Who could put his hand on us both.

³⁴Let him take away his rod from me,

And let him not frighten me with his terror.

³⁵Then I would speak and not fear him,

But it is not so for me in my situation.