Job 23

23 ¹Then Job answered: ²"Even today my complaint is bitter; his hand is heavy despite my groaning. ³If only I knew where to find him, so I could come to his dwelling! ⁴I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. ⁵I would learn the words he would answer me and understand what he would say to me. ⁶Would he argue with me in the greatness of his power? No—he would surely give me a hearing. ⁷There an upright person could reason with him, and I would be acquitted forever by my judge. ⁸But if I go east, he is not there; and to the west I cannot find him. ⁹When he works in the north, I cannot see him; when he turns to the south, I cannot find him. ¹⁰But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come out as 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 daily bread. ¹³But he is unchangeable—who can turn him back? Whatever he desires, he does. ¹⁴For he will carry out what he has appointed for me, and many such things are in his mind. ¹⁵That is why I am terrified before him; when I consider it, I am in dread of him. ¹⁶God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me. ¹⁷Yet I am not silenced by the darkness, by the thick gloom that covers my face."