¹Then Iyov responded:

²“Indeed, I know that this is so;

but how can a human win a case against God?

³Whoever might want to argue with him

could not answer him one [question] in a thousand.

⁴His heart is so wise, his strength so great —

who can resist him and succeed?

⁵“He moves the mountains, although they don’t know it,

when he overturns them in his anger.

⁶He shakes the earth from its place;

its supporting pillars tremble.

⁷He commands the sun, and it fails to rise;

he shuts up the stars under his seal.

⁸He alone spreads out the sky

and walks on the waves in the sea.

⁹He made the Great Bear, Orion, the Pleiades

and the hidden constellations of the south.

¹⁰He does great, unsearchable things,

wonders beyond counting.

¹¹He can go right by me, and I don’t see him;

he moves past without my being aware of him.

¹²If he kills [people], who will ask why?

Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’

¹³God will not withdraw his anger —

even Rahav’s supporters submit to him.

¹⁴“How much less can I answer him

and select my arguments against him!

¹⁵Even if I were right, I wouldn’t answer;

I could only ask for mercy from my judge.

¹⁶If I summoned him, and he answered me,

I still can’t believe he would listen to my plea.

¹⁷He could break me with a storm;

he could multiply my wounds for no reason,

¹⁸to the point where I couldn’t even breathe —

with such bitterness he could fill me!

¹⁹If it’s a matter of force, look how mighty he is;

if justice, who can summon him to court?

²⁰Even if I’m right, my own mouth will condemn me;

if I’m innocent, it would pronounce me guilty.

²¹“I am innocent. Don’t I know myself?

But I’ve had enough of this life of mine!

²²So I say it’s all the same —

he destroys innocent and wicked alike.

²³When disaster brings sudden death,

he laughs at the plight of the innocent.

²⁴The earth has been given to the power of the wicked;

he covers the faces of its judges —

if it isn’t he, then who is it?

²⁵My days pass on more swiftly than a runner;

they flee without seeing anything good.

²⁶They skim by like skiffs built of reeds,

like an eagle swooping down on its prey.

²⁷“If I say, ‘I’ll forget my complaining,

I’ll put off my sad face and be cheerful,’

²⁸then I’m still afraid of all my pain,

and I know you will not hold me innocent.

²⁹I will be condemned,

so why waste my efforts?

³⁰Even if I washed myself in melted snow

and cleansed my hands with lye,

³¹you would plunge me into the muddy pit,

till my own clothes would detest me.

³²“For he is not merely human like me;

there is no answer that I could give him

if we were to come together in court.

³³There is no arbitrator between us

who could lay his hand on us both.

³⁴If he would remove his rod from me

and not let his terrors frighten me,

³⁵then I would speak without fear of him;

for when I’m alone, I’m not afraid.