¹Then Job answered and said,

²Truly I know that it is so; and how can a person be righteous with God?

³If someone desires to contend with him, he will not answer him once in a thousand.

⁴He is wise of heart and strong of strength; who has shown stubbornness to him and come out unharmed?

⁵He removes mountains, and they do not know it; he overturns them in his anger.

⁶He makes the land quake from its place, and its pillars shudder.

⁷He speaks to the sun, and it does not rise; he seals off the stars.

⁸He stretches out the skies by himself, and treads on the high places of the sea.

⁹He makes the Great Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the inner chambers of the south.

¹⁰He does great things beyond inquiry, and wonders beyond number.

¹¹Behold, he passes by me and I do not see him; he moves on and I do not perceive him.

¹²Behold, he snatches away; who can turn him back? Who will say to him, "What are you doing?"

¹³God does not turn back his anger; under him the helpers of Rahab bowed down.

¹⁴How much less, then, could I answer him, or choose my words with him?

¹⁵Even if I am righteous, I cannot answer him; I can only plead for favor with my judge.

¹⁶If I called and he answered me, I would not believe that he had given ear to my voice.

¹⁷He who crushes me with a storm multiplies my wounds for no reason.

¹⁸He does not allow me to bring back my breath, for he fills me full of bitter things.

¹⁹If it is a matter of strength, behold, he is mighty; and if of justice, who will summon me?

²⁰Though I am righteous, my own mouth condemns me; though I am blameless, it declares me crooked.

²¹I am blameless; I do not know my own being; I reject my life.

²²It is all one; that is why I say: he brings to an end the blameless and the wicked alike.

²³If a scourge brings sudden death, he mocks at the testing of the innocent.

²⁴The land has been given into the hand of a wicked one; he covers the faces of its judges. If it is not he, then who is it?

²⁵My days are swifter than a runner; they have fled away and have seen no good.

²⁶They glide past like boats of reed, like an eagle that pounces on food.

²⁷If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will let go of my sad face and be cheerful,

²⁸I dread all my pains; I know that you will not acquit me.

²⁹I am to be found guilty; why then should I toil for a vapor?

³⁰If I wash myself in water of snow and cleanse with lye my palms,

³¹then you would dip me in the pit, and my own clothes would abhor me.

³²For he is not a man like me, that I could answer him, that we could come together in justice.

³³There is no arbiter between us, who could set his hand on both of us.

³⁴Let him take his rod away from me, and let his dread not terrify me.

³⁵Then I would speak and not fear him, for I am not that way within myself.