1. Then Job answered:
2. Today also my complaint is bitter. His hand is heavy despite my groaning.
3. If only I knew how to find Him,so that I could go to His throne.
4. I would plead my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments.
5. I would learn how He would answer me;and understand what He would say to me.
6. Would He prosecute me forcefully?No, He will certainly pay attention to me.
7. Then an upright man could reason with Him,and I would escape from my Judge forever.
8. If I go east, He is not there,and if I go west, I cannot perceive Him.
9. When He is at work to the north, I cannot see Him;when He turns south, I cannot find Him.
10. Yet He knows the way I have taken; when He has tested me, I will emerge as pure gold.
11. My feet have followed in His tracks;I have kept to His way and not turned aside.
12. I have not departed from the commands of His lips;I have treasured the words of His mouthmore than my daily food.
13. But He is unchangeable; who can oppose Him?He does what He desires.
14. He will certainly accomplish what He has decreed for me,and He has many more things like these in mind.
15. Therefore I am terrified in His presence;when I consider this, I am afraid of Him.
16. God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me.
17. Yet I am not destroyed by the darkness, by the thick darkness that covers my face.