*Then Job answered:*“Truly, I know that this is so. But how can a human be just before God? *If someone wishes to contend with him, he cannot answer him one time in a thousand.*He is wise in heart and mighty in strength – who has resisted him and remained safe? *He who removes mountains suddenly, who overturns them in his anger; *he who shakes the earth out of its place so that its pillars tremble; *he who commands the sun and it does not shine and seals up the stars;*he alone spreads out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea; *he makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the constellations of the southern sky; *he does great and unsearchable things, and wonderful things without number.*If he passes by me, I cannot see him, if he goes by, I cannot perceive him. *If he snatches away, who can turn him back? Who dares to say to him, ‘What are you doing?’*God does not restrain his anger; under him the helpers of Rahab lie crushed.
The Impossibility of Facing God in Court
*“How much less, then, can I answer him and choose my words to argue with him! *Although I am innocent, I could not answer him; I could only plead with my judge for mercy.*If I summoned him, and he answered me, I would not believe that he would be listening to my voice –*he who crushes me with a tempest, and multiplies my wounds for no reason. *He does not allow me to recover my breath, for he fills me with bitterness.*If it is a matter of strength, most certainly he is the strong one! And if it is a matter of justice, he will say, ‘Who will summon me?’ *Although I am innocent, my mouth would condemn me; although I am blameless, it would declare me perverse. *I am blameless. I do not know myself. I despise my life.
Accusation of God’s Justice
*“It is all one! That is why I say, ‘He destroys the blameless and the guilty.’*If a scourge brings sudden death, he mocks at the despair of the innocent. *If a land has been given into the hand of a wicked man, he covers the faces of its judges; if it is not he, then who is it?
Renewed Complaint
*“My days are swifter than a runner, they speed by without seeing happiness.*They glide by like reed boats, like an eagle that swoops down on its prey. *If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will change my expression and be cheerful,’ *I dread all my sufferings, for I know that you do not hold me blameless. *If I am guilty, why then weary myself in vain? *If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands clean with lye, *then you plunge me into a slimy pit and my own clothes abhor me.*For he is not a human being like I am, that I might answer him, that we might come together in judgment.*Nor is there an arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both, *who would take his rod away from me so that his terror would not make me afraid.*Then would I speak and not fear him, but it is not so with me.
