1   Then Job answered:

2   Indeed this I know for the truth,
that no man can win his case against God.

First cycle of speeches
3   If a man chooses to argue with him,
God will not answer one question in a thousand. ^note
4   He is wise, he is powerful;
what man has stubbornly resisted him and survived?
5   It is God who moves mountains, giving them no rest,
turning them over in his wrath;
6   who makes the earth start from its place
so that its pillars are convulsed;
7   who commands the sun's orb not to rise
and shuts up the stars under his seal;
8   who by himself spread out the heavens
and trod on the sea-monster's back; ^note
9   who made Aldebaran and Orion,
the Pleiades and the circle of the southern stars;
10   who does great and unsearchable things,
marvels without number.


11   He passes by me, and I do not see him;
he moves on his way undiscerned by me;
12   if he hurries on, ^note who can bring him back?
Who will ask him what he does?
13   God does not turn back his wrath;
the partisans of Rahab lie prostrate at his feet.
14   How much less can I answer him
or find words to dispute with him?
15   Though I am right, I get no answer,
though I plead with my accuser for mercy.
16   If I summoned him to court and he responded,
I do not believe that he would listen to my plea—
17   for he bears hard upon me for a trifle ^note
and rains blows on me without cause;
18   he leaves me no respite to recover my breath
but fills me with bitter thoughts.
19   If the appeal is to force, see how strong he is;
if to justice, who can compel him ^note to give me a hearing?
20   Though I am right, he condemns me out of my own mouth;
though I am blameless, he twists my words.
21   Blameless, I say; of myself
I reck nothing, I hold my life cheap.
22   But it is all one; therefore I say,
‘He destroys blameless and wicked alike.’

First cycle of speeches
23   When a sudden flood brings death,
he mocks the plight of the innocent.
24   The land is given over to the power of the wicked,
and the eyes of its judges are blindfold. ^note


25   My days have been swifter than a runner,
they have slipped away and seen no prosperity;
26   they have raced by like reed-built skiffs,
swift as vultures swooping on carrion.
27   If I think, ‘I will forget my griefs,
I will show a cheerful face and smile’,
28   I tremble in every nerve; ^note
I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent.
29   If I am to be accounted guilty,
why do I labour in vain?
30   Though I wash myself with soap
or cleanse my hands with lye,
31   thou wilt thrust me into the mud
and my clothes will make me loathsome.


32   He is not a man as I am, that I can answer him
or that we can confront one another in court.
33   If only there were one to arbitrate between us
and impose his authority on us both,
34   so that God might take his rod from my back,
and terror of him might not come on me suddenly.
35   I would then speak without fear of him;
for I know I am not what I am thought to be.

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