1 Then Job answered and said:
2 “Truly I know that it is so: But how can a man be in the right before God?
5 he who removes mountains, and they know it not, when he overturns them in his anger,
7 who commands the sun, and it does not rise; who seals up the stars;
10 who does great things beyond searching out, and marvelous things beyond number.
11 Behold, he passes by me, and I see him not; he moves on, but I do not perceive him.
15 Though I am in the right, 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, he is mighty! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?
20 Though I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
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?
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 face, and be of good cheer,’
28 I become afraid of all my suffering, for I know you will not hold me innocent.
29 I shall be condemned; why then do I labor in vain?
32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together.
35 Then I would speak without fear of him, for I am not so in myself.
