Job 23

Job Replies: Where Is God?

¹Then Job answered and said:

²“Today also my complaint is bitter;

my hand is heavy on account of my groaning.

³Oh, that I knew where I might find him,

that I might come even to his seat!

⁴I would lay my case before him

and fill my mouth with arguments.

⁵I would know what he would answer me

and understand what he would say to me.

⁶Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?

No; he would pay attention to me.

⁷There an upright man could argue with him,

and I would be acquitted forever by my judge.

⁸“Behold, I go forward, but he is not there,

and backward, but I do not perceive him;

⁹on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him;

he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.

¹⁰But he knows the way that I take;

when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.

¹¹My foot has held fast to his steps;

I have kept his way and have not turned aside.

¹²I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;

I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.

¹³But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back?

What he desires, that he does.

¹⁴For he will complete what he appoints for me,

and many such things are in his mind.

¹⁵Therefore I am terrified at his presence;

when I consider, I am in dread of him.

¹⁶God has made my heart faint;

the Almighty has terrified me;

¹⁷yet I am not silenced because of the darkness,

nor because thick darkness covers my face.