Job 23

1Job answered and said.

2Even today my complaint is bitter. My hand is heavier than my groaning.

3Who will grant that I know where to find him, that I might come to his seat!

4I would arrange my case before him and fill my mouth with reproofs.

5I would know the words he would answer me with, and understand what he would say to me.

6Would he strive against me with mighty strength? No, but he would strengthen me.

7There the upright would contend with him, so I would be delivered forever from my judge.

8If I go eastward, he is not there; westward, I do not perceive him.

9To the left, when he works, I cannot behold him; to the right he shrouds himself, and I cannot see him.

10For he knows my way; when he has tested me, I will come out like gold.

11My foot has held to his steps; I have kept his way and not turned aside.

12I have not departed from the ordinance of his lips; I have stored up the sayings of his mouth more than my portion.

13But he is alone, and who can turn him? What his soul desires, that he does.

14For he completes my appointed portion, and many such things are with him.

15Therefore I am terrified before him; when I reflect, I fear him.

16God has melted my heart, and the Almighty has terrified me.

17For I have not been consumed before the darkness, nor has he covered the gloom from my face.