14. How then can I answer him,choosing my words with him?
15. Though I am in the right, I cannot answer him;I must appeal for mercy to my accuser.
16. If I summoned him and he answered me,I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.
17. For he crushes me with a tempestand multiplies my wounds without cause;
18. he will not let me get my breath,but fills me with bitterness.
19. If it is a contest of strength, behold, he is mighty!If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?
20. Though I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me;though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
21. I am blameless; I regard not myself;I loathe my life.
22. It is all one; therefore I say,‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
23. When disaster brings sudden death,he mocks at the calamity of the innocent.
24. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;he covers the faces of its judges— if it is not he, who then is it?
25. “My days are swifter than a runner;they flee away; they see no good.
26. They go by like skiffs of reed,like an eagle swooping on the prey.
27. If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint,I will put off my sad face, and be of good cheer,’
28. I become afraid of all my suffering,for I know you will not hold me innocent.