1 Then Job replied,

2 "Even today my complaint is rebellion; His hand is heavy despite my groaning.

3 "Oh that I knew where I might find Him, That I might come to His seat!

4 "I would present [my] case before Him And fill my mouth with arguments.

5 "I would learn the words [which] He would answer, And perceive what He would say to me.

6 "Would He contend with me by the greatness of [His] power? No, surely He would pay attention to me.

7 "There the upright would reason with Him; And I would be delivered forever from my Judge.

8 "Behold, I go forward but He is not [there,] And backward, but I cannot perceive Him;

9 When He acts on the left, I cannot behold [Him;] He turns on the right, I cannot see Him.

10 "But He knows the way I take; [When] He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

11 "My foot has held fast to His path; I have kept His way and not turned aside.

12 "I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.

13 "But He is unique and who can turn Him? And [what] His soul desires, that He does.

14 "For He performs what is appointed for me, And many such [decrees] are with Him.

15 "Therefore, I would be dismayed at His presence; [When] I consider, I am terrified of Him.

16 "[It is] God [who] has made my heart faint, And the Almighty [who] has dismayed me,

17 But I am not silenced by the darkness, Nor deep gloom [which] covers [me.]