1 Then Job answered and said,
2 I know it is so of a truth, but how shall a man be justified with God?
3 If he desires to contend with him, he will not be able to answer him one thing of a thousand.
4 He is wise in heart and mighty in strength; who has hardened himself against him and remained in peace?
5 Who uproots the mountains in his anger, and they know not who overturned them.
6 Who removes the earth out of her place and causes her pillars to tremble.
7 Who commands the sun, and it rises not; and seals up the stars.
8 He alone extends the heavens and walks upon the waves of the sea.
9 He who made Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the secret places of the south.
10 He who does great things past finding out, and wonders without number.
11 Behold, he shall pass before me, and I shall not see him; and he shall pass on, and I shall not understand him.
12 Behold, he shall take away, who can cause him to restore? Who shall say unto him, What doest thou?
13 God will not withdraw his anger, and under him those who help, unto pride are bent over.
14 How much less shall I answer him and choose out my words to reason with him?
15 Who even though I am righteous, yet I would not answer, but I would make supplication to my judge.
16 Who if I were to invoke him, and he answered me; yet I would not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice.
17 For he has broken me with a tempest and has multiplied my wounds without cause.
18 He will not suffer me to take my breath but has filled me with bitterness.
19 If we were to speak of his strength, he is certainly strong; and if of his judgment, who shall cause us to meet?
20 If I justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, he shall prove me perverse.
21 If I say I am imperfect, I know not my soul; I would condemn my life.
22 One thing remains, that I say, He consumes the perfect and the wicked.
23 If it is the scourge, it slays suddenly, and it does not laugh at the trial 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 does this then, who is it and where is he?
25 Now my days are swifter than a post; they fled away, they never saw good.
26 They are passed away as the ships of Ebeh {Heb. reed} as the eagle that throws himself on the prey.
27 If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my heaviness and comfort myself;
28 I am afraid of all my troubles; I know that thou wilt not hold me guiltless.
29 If I am wicked, why then shall I toil in vain?
30 If I wash myself with snow water and make my hands never so clean;
31 yet thou shalt plunge me into the pit, and my own clothes shall abhor me.
32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together unto judgment.
33 Neither is there any arbiter between us, that might lay his hand upon us both.
34 Let him take his tormentor away from me, and his terror will not perturb me.
35 Then I would speak and not fear him, because in this state I am not myself.