20. Even if I were innocent, my mouth would condemn me. If I were guiltless, it will declare me perverse.
21. “I am guiltless. I have no concern for myself. I despise my life.
22. It is all the same, therefore I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
23. If a scourge smites suddenly, He mocks the despair of the innocent.
24. If the land falls into the hand of the wicked He blindfolds the faces of its judges. If it is not He, then who is it?
25. “My days are swifter than a runner; they flee away without seeing goodness.
26. They slip by like reed boats, like an eagle swooping down on its prey.
27. If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face and be cheerful,’
28. I still dread all my pains, for I know You will not find me innocent.
29. If I am condemned— why should I struggle in vain?
30. If I wash myself with melted snow and cleanse my hands with lye,
31. then You would plunge me into a pit and my own clothes would detest me.
32. For He is not a human being, like I am, that I could answer Him, that we could go to court together.
33. There is no arbitrator between us, who could lay his hand on us both;