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Job answered:
2 “In truth, I know that this is so,
but how can a man be righteous before God?
3 If one wanted to dispute with Him,
he could not answer Him one time in a thousand.
4 God is wise in heart and mighty in strength.
Who has defied Him and prospered?
5 He removes mountains, and they do not know it,
and overturns them in His anger.
6 He shakes the earth from its place,
and its pillars tremble.
7 He commands the sun, and it does not shine,
and He seals up the stars.
8 He alone stretches out the heavens,
and treads on the waves of the sea.
9 He made the Bear and Orion,
the Pleiades, and the constellations of the south.
10 He performs great deeds beyond discovering,
and wonders without number.
11 When He passes by me, I cannot see Him;
when He moves past, I cannot perceive Him.
12 If He takes away, who can hinder Him?
Who can say to Him, ‘What are you doing’?
13 God will not turn back His anger,
even the helpers of Rahab cringe beneath Him.
14 “How then can I answer Him,
and choose my words to reason with Him?
15 Though I am in the right, I could not answer Him;
I could only plead for mercy from my Judge.
16 Even if I summoned Him and He answered me,
I do not believe that He would give ear to my voice.
17 For He crushes me with a tempest,
and multiplies my wounds without cause.
18 He will not allow me to catch my breath,
before filling me with bitterness.
19 If it is a matter of strength, He is mighty,
if it is a matter of justice, who can summon Him for me?
20 Even if I am innocent, my own mouth would condemn me;
though I were blameless, it would pronounce me guilty.
21 “Although I am blameless,
I have no concern for myself,
I despise my life.
22 It is all the same,
that is why I say, ‘He destroys the guiltless and the wicked!’
23 If a scourge brings sudden death,
He mocks at the despair of the innocent.
24 The earth is given into the hands of the wicked,
He blindfolds its judges.
If it is not He, then who is it?
25 “My days pass by swifter than a runner;
they flee away, they see nothing pleasant.
26 They slip past like reed boats,
like an eagle swooping on its prey.
27 If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint,
I will put off my sad expression and be cheerful’,
28 I am afraid of all my sufferings,
for I know that you will not hold me innocent.
29 If I am already condemned,
why then should I labour in vain?
30 Though I were to cleanse myself with snow water,
and scrub my hands with potash,
31 yet you would plunge me into a pit of mud,
so that even my own clothes would abhor me.
32 “For He is not a man like me, that I might answer Him,
that we could confront each other in court.
33 There is no judge between us,
to lay his hand upon both of us.
34 Let Him take His rod away from me,
so the dread of Him would no longer terrify me,
35 then I could speak up without being afraid of Him,
but it is not that way with me.”