Job 23

Job’s Reply to Eliphaz

¹Then Job answered:

²Today also my complaint is bitter.[#Syr, Tg, Vg; MT reads rebellion; #Jb 7:11; 10:1; 21:4]

His hand is heavy despite my groaning.

³If only I knew how to find Him,

so that I could go to His throne.

⁴I would plead my case before Him[#Jb 5:8; 13:18; 35:14]

and fill my mouth with arguments.

⁵I would learn how He would answer me;[#Lit the words]

and understand what He would say to me.

⁶Would He prosecute me forcefully?[#Jb 13:19; 33:13; Is 45:9]

No, He will certainly pay attention to me.

⁷Then an upright man could reason with Him,[#Jb 13:3,15; 15:3]

and I would escape from my Judge forever.

⁸If I go east, He is not there,

and if I go west, I cannot perceive Him.

⁹When He is at work to the north, I cannot see Him;

when He turns south, I cannot find Him.

¹⁰Yet He knows the way I have taken;[#Lit way with me]

when He has tested me, I will emerge as pure gold.

¹¹My feet have followed in His tracks;

I have kept to His way and not turned aside.

¹²I have not departed from the commands of His lips;

I have treasured the words of His mouth

more than my daily food.

¹³But He is unchangeable; who can oppose Him?

He does what He desires.

¹⁴He will certainly accomplish what He has decreed for me,

and He has many more things like these in mind.

¹⁵Therefore I am terrified in His presence;[#Jb 4:14; 22:10; 23:15]

when I consider this, I am afraid of Him.

¹⁶God has made my heart faint;[#Dt 20:3; Is 7:4; Jr 51:46]

the Almighty has terrified me.

¹⁷Yet I am not destroyed by the darkness,[#Or silenced; #Jb 19:8; 29:3; 30:26]

by the thick darkness that covers my face.