Job 23

1Then Job answered:

2“Even today my complaint is bitter; my hand lies heavy on my groaning.

3Oh, that I knew where to find him, that I could come to where he dwells!

4I would lay out my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments.

5I would learn what words he would answer me and understand what he would say to me.

6Would he contend with me in his great power? No, he would surely pay attention to me.

7There an upright person could reason with him, and I would be acquitted by my judge forever.

8But look, I go east, and he is not there; west, and I do not perceive him.

9When he is at work in the north, I do not catch sight of him; he hides himself in the south, and I do not see him.

10But he knows the way I take; when he has tested me, I will come out like gold.

11My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and not turned aside.

12I have not departed from the command of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my own portion.

13But he is one, and who can turn him back? What he desires, he does.

14For he will carry out what he has decreed for me, and he has many such plans.

15That is why I am terrified in his presence; when I think about it, I am afraid of him.

16God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me.

17Yet I have not been silenced by the darkness, nor by the thick gloom that covers my face.