1 Then Job answered,

2 "Truly I know that it is so,

but how can man be just with God?

3 If he is pleased to contend with him,

he can’t answer him one time in a thousand.

4 God is wise in heart, and mighty in strength.

Who has hardened himself against him and prospered?

5 He removes the mountains, and they don’t know it,

when he overturns them in his anger.

6 He shakes the earth out of its place.

Its pillars tremble.

7 He commands the sun and it doesn’t rise,

and seals up the stars.

8 He alone stretches out the heavens,

and treads on the waves of the sea.

9 He makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades,

and the rooms of the south.

10 He does great things past finding out;

yes, marvelous things without number.

11 Behold, he goes by me, and I don’t see him.

He passes on also, but I don’t perceive him.

12 Behold, he snatches away.

Who can hinder him?

Who will ask him, ‘What are you doing?’

13 "God will not withdraw his anger.

The helpers of Rahab stoop under him.

14 How much less will I answer him,

and choose my words to argue with him?

15 Though I were righteous, yet I wouldn’t answer him.

I would make supplication to my judge.

16 If I had called, and he had answered me,

yet I wouldn’t believe that he listened to my voice.

17 For he breaks me with a storm,

and multiplies my wounds without cause.

18 He will not allow me to catch my breath,

but fills me with bitterness.

19 If it is a matter of strength, behold, he is mighty!

If of justice, ‘Who,’ says he, ‘will summon me?’

20 Though I am righteous, my own mouth will condemn me.

Though I am blameless, it will prove me perverse.

21 I am blameless.

I don’t respect myself.

I despise my life.

22 "It is all the same.

Therefore I say he destroys the blameless and the wicked.

23 If the scourge kills suddenly,

he will mock 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 not he, then who is it?

25 "Now my days are swifter than a runner.

They flee away. They see no good.

26 They have passed away as the swift ships,

as the eagle that swoops on the prey.

27 If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint,

I will put off my sad face, and cheer up,’

28 I am afraid of all my sorrows.

I know that you will not hold me innocent.

29 I will be condemned.

Why then do I labor in vain?

30 If I wash myself with snow,

and cleanse my hands with lye,

31 yet you will plunge me in the ditch.

My own clothes will abhor me.

32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him,

that we should come together in judgment.

33 There is no umpire between us,

that might lay his hand on us both.

34 Let him take his rod away from me.

Let his terror not make me afraid;

35 then I would speak, and not fear him,

for I am not so in myself.

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 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.: