9Then Job answered: 2“Indeed I know that this is so; but how can a mortal be just before God? 3If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand. 4He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength—who has resisted him, and succeeded?— 5he who removes mountains, and they do not know it, when he overturns them in his anger; 6who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble; 7who commands the sun, and it does not rise; who seals up the stars; 8who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the Sea; 9who made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the chambers of the south; 10who does great things beyond understanding, and marvelous things without number. 11Look, he passes by me, and I do not see him; he moves on, but I do not perceive him. 12He snatches away; who can stop him? Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’ 13“God will not turn back his anger; the helpers of Rahab bowed beneath him.
14How then can I answer him, choosing my words with him? 15Though I am innocent, I cannot answer him; I must appeal for mercy to my accuser. 16If I summoned him and he answered me, I do not believe that he would listen to my voice. 17For he crushes me with a tempest, and multiplies my wounds without cause; 18he will not let me get my breath, but fills me with bitterness. 19If it is a contest of strength, he is the strong one! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him? 20Though I am innocent, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse. 21I am blameless; I do not know myself; I loathe my life.
22It is all one; therefore I say, he destroys both the blameless and the wicked. 23When disaster brings sudden death, he mocks at the calamity of the innocent. 24The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he covers the eyes of its judges— if it is not he, who then is it?
25“My days are swifter than a runner; they flee away, they see no good. 26They go by like skiffs of reed, like an eagle swooping on the prey. 27If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint; I will put off my sad countenance and be of good cheer,’ 28I become afraid of all my suffering, for I know you will not hold me innocent. 29I shall be condemned; why then do I labor in vain? 30If I wash myself with soap and cleanse my hands with lye, 31yet you will plunge me into filth, and my own clothes will abhor me. 32For he is not a mortal, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together. 33There is no umpire between us, who might lay his hand on us both. 34If he would take his rod away from me, and not let dread of him terrify me, 35then I would speak without fear of him, for I know I am not what I am thought to be.
10“I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. 2I will say to God, Do not condemn me; let me know why you contend against me. 3Does it seem good to you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands and favor the schemes of the wicked? 4Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as humans see? 5Are your days like the days of mortals, or your years like human years, 6that you seek out my iniquity and search for my sin, 7although you know that I am not guilty, and there is no one to deliver out of your hand?
8Your hands fashioned and made me; and now you turn and destroy me. 9Remember that you fashioned me like clay; and will you turn me to dust again? 10Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese? 11You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews. 12You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit. 13Yet these things you hid in your heart; I know that this was your purpose.
14If I sin, you watch me, and do not acquit me of my iniquity. 15If I am wicked, woe to me! If I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head, for I am filled with disgrace and look upon my affliction. 16Bold as a lion you hunt me; you repeat your exploits against me. 17You renew your witnesses against me, and increase your vexation toward me; you bring fresh troops against me. 18“Why did you bring me forth from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me, 19and were as though I had not been, carried from the womb to the grave. 20Are not the days of my life few? Let me alone, that I may find a little comfort 21before I go, never to return, to the land of gloom and deep darkness, 22the land of gloom and chaos, where light is like darkness.”
From the oremus Bible Browser https://bible.oremus.org v2.9.2 30 June 2021.