18. He will not allow me to take my ruach (breath), but filleth me with bitterness.
19. If I speak of ko'ach, hinei, He is mighty, and if of mishpat, who can give Him a court summons?
20. If etzdak (I am justified, in the right), mine own mouth would condemn me; if I say, I am blameless, He would prove me perverse.
21. Though I were blameless, yet would I not know my nefesh; I would despise my life.
22. This is one thing; therefore I said it, He destroyeth the tam (blameless) and the rasha (wicked).
23. If the shot (scourge) slay suddenly, He laugheth at the melting away [in anguish] of the nekiyim (innocent ones, the guiltless ones).
24. Eretz is given into the yad of the resha; He blindfoldeth the faces of the shofetim (judges) thereof; if not, then, who doeth it?
25. Now my yamim are swifter than a runner; they flee away, they see no tovah.
26. They slip by like oniyyot (boats) of reed; as the nesher that swoopeth down on the prey.
27. If I say, I will forget my si'akh (complaint), I will leave off my heaviness, and comfort myself,
28. I am afraid of all my sorrows; I have da'as that Thou wilt not hold me innocent.
29. If I be wicked, why then labor I in hevel (vain)?
30. If I wash myself with sheleg (snow), and make my hands clean with lye,
31. Yet shalt Thou plunge me in the shachat (slime pit), and mine own clothes shall abhor me.
32. For He is not an ish, as I am, that I should answer Him, and we should come together in mishpat (in the court).
33. Neither is there any mochiach (arbitrator) between us, that might lay his yad upon us both.
34. Let Him take His shevet (rod) away from me, and let not His fear terrify me.
35. Then would I speak, and not fear Him; but it is not ken (so) with me.