Job 23

Job’s Reply to Eliphaz

¹Then Job answered:

²Today also my complaint is bitter. ^a,^b

His ^c hand is heavy despite my groaning.

³If only I knew how to find him,

so that I could go to his throne.

⁴I would plead my case before him ^d

and fill my mouth with arguments.

⁵I would learn how ^e he would answer me;

and understand what he would say to me.

⁶Would he prosecute ^f me forcefully?

No, he would certainly pay attention to me.

⁷Then an upright man could reason ^g with him,

and I would escape from my Judge ^h,ⁱ forever.

⁸If I go east, he is not there,

and if I go west, I cannot perceive him. ^j

⁹When he is at work to the north, I cannot see him;

when he turns south, I cannot find him.

¹⁰Yet he knows the way I have taken; ^k

when he has tested me, ^l I will emerge as pure gold.

¹¹My feet have followed in his tracks;

I have kept to his way ^m and not turned aside.

¹²I have not departed from the commands from his lips;

I have treasured ⁿ the words ^o from his mouth

more than my daily food.

¹³But he is unchangeable; who can oppose him?

He does what he desires. ^p

¹⁴He will certainly accomplish what he has decreed for me,

and he has many more things like these in mind. ^q

¹⁵Therefore I am terrified ^r in his presence;

when I consider this, I am afraid of him.

¹⁶God has made my heart faint; ^s

the Almighty has terrified me.

¹⁷Yet I am not destroyed ^t by the darkness, ^u

by the thick darkness that covers my face.