1Then Job answered and said:2“Truly I know that it is so: But how can a man be in the right before God? (Job 4:17)3If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times. (Job 10:2; Ps 143:2; Ro 3:20)4He is wise in heart and mighty in strength —who has hardened himself against him, and succeeded?— (Ex 7:13; Ex 32:9; Job 12:13; Job 36:5)5he who removes mountains, and they know it not, when he overturns them in his anger,6who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble; (Job 26:11; Ps 75:3; Isa 2:19; Isa 2:21; Isa 13:13; Hag 2:6; Hag 2:21; Heb 12:26)7who commands the sun, and it does not rise; who seals up the stars;8who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea; (Job 26:7; Ps 104:2; Jer 10:12; Jer 51:15; Zec 12:1)9who made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the chambers of the south; (Ge 1:16; Job 37:9; Job 38:31; Job 38:32; Am 5:8)10who does great things beyond searching out, and marvelous things beyond number. (Job 5:9)11Behold, he passes by me, and I see him not; he moves on, but I do not perceive him. (Job 23:8)12Behold, he snatches away; who can turn him back? Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’ (Job 11:10; Job 23:13; Isa 45:9; Jer 18:6; Ro 9:20)13“God will not turn back his anger; beneath him bowed the helpers of Rahab. (Job 26:12; Ps 87:4; Ps 89:10; Isa 30:7; Isa 51:9)14How then can I answer him, choosing my words with him? (Job 9:3; Job 15:16)15Though I am in the right, I cannot answer him; I must appeal for mercy to my accuser.[1] (Job 8:5; Job 10:15)16If I summoned him and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.17For he crushes me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause; (Job 2:3; Job 34:6)18he will not let me get my breath, but fills me with bitterness.19If it is a contest of strength, behold, he is mighty! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?[2] (Job 9:4; Jer 49:19; Jer 50:44)20Though I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse. (Job 15:6)21I am blameless; I regard not myself; I loathe my life. (Job 1:1; Job 7:16; Job 10:1)22It is all one; therefore I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’ (Ec 9:2; Eze 21:3)23When disaster brings sudden death, he mocks at the calamity[3] of the innocent. (Isa 10:26)24The 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? (Job 10:3; Job 12:17; Job 24:25)25“My days are swifter than a runner; they flee away; they see no good. (2Ch 30:6; Job 7:6; Jer 51:31)26They go by like skiffs of reed, like an eagle swooping on the prey. (Isa 18:2; Hab 1:8)27If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face, and be of good cheer,’ (Job 7:13; Ps 39:13)28I become afraid of all my suffering, for I know you will not hold me innocent. (Job 10:14; Ps 119:120)29I shall be condemned; why then do I labor in vain? (Job 10:2)30If I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye, (Job 22:30; Isa 1:25; Jer 2:22)31yet you will plunge me into a pit, and my own clothes will abhor me. (Job 19:19; Job 30:10)32For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together. (Ec 6:10; Ro 9:20)33There is no[4] arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both. (1Sa 2:25; Job 9:19; Job 16:21)34Let him take his rod away from me, and let not dread of him terrify me. (Job 13:21; Job 21:9; Job 33:7; Ps 39:10; Ps 89:32; Isa 10:24)35Then I would speak without fear of him, for I am not so in myself.