Where Is God?

¹Then Job answered and said,

²“Even today my musing 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 arrange my case for justice before Him

And fill my mouth with arguments.

⁵“I would know the words which He would answer,[#23:5 Lit answer me]

And discern 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 argue with Him;

And I would have escaped forever from my Judge.

⁸¶“Behold, I go forward but He is not there ,

And backward, but I cannot discern Him;

⁹When 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;[#23:10 Lit way with me]

When He has tested 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 portion of 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 apportioned for me,

And many such decrees are with Him.

¹⁵“Therefore, I would be dismayed at His presence;

I carefully consider, and I am in dread of Him.

¹⁶“It is God who has made my heart faint,

And the Almighty who has dismayed me,

¹⁷But I am not silenced by the darkness,

Nor thick darkness which covers me.