¹THEN JOB answered,

²Even today is my complaint rebellious and bitter; my stroke is heavier than my groaning.

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

⁴I would lay my cause before Him and fill my mouth with arguments.

⁵I would learn what He would answer me, and understand what He would say to me.

⁶Would He plead against me with His great power? No, He would give heed to me. [Isa. 27:4, 5; 57:16.]

⁷There the righteous [one who is upright and in right standing with God] could reason with Him; so I should be acquitted by my Judge forever.

⁸Behold, I go forward [and to the east], but He is not there; I go backward [and to the west], but I cannot perceive Him;

⁹On the left hand [and to the north] where He works [I seek Him], but I cannot behold Him; He turns Himself to the right hand [and to the south], but I cannot see Him.

¹⁰But He knows the way that I take [He has concern for it, appreciates, and pays attention to it]. When He has tried me, I shall come forth as refined gold [pure and luminous]. [Ps. 17:3; 66:10; James 1:12.]

¹¹My foot has held fast to His steps; His ways have I kept and not turned aside.

¹²I have not gone back from the commandment of His lips; I have esteemed and treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.

¹³But He is unchangeable, and who can turn Him? And what He wants to do, that He does.

¹⁴For He performs [that which He has] planned for me, and of many such matters He is mindful.

¹⁵Therefore am I troubled and terrified at His presence; when I consider, I am in dread and afraid of Him.

¹⁶For God has made my heart faint, timid, and broken, and the Almighty has terrified me,

¹⁷Because I was not cut off before the darkness [of these woes befell me], neither has He covered the thick darkness from my face.