Job 23:1–17

JOB’S REPLY TO ELIPHAZ

23Then Job answered:

²Today also my complaint is bitter.^Eh

His^F 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 himⁱ

and fill my mouth with arguments.

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

and understand what he would say to me.

⁶Would he prosecute^j me forcefully?

No, he would certainly pay attention to me.

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

and I would escape from my Judge^Bl forever.

⁸If I go east, he is not there,

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

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;^C

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

¹¹My feet have followed in his tracks;

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

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

I have treasured^D the words^p from his mouth

more than my daily food.

¹³But he is unchangeable; who can oppose him?

He does what he desires.^q

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

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

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^F by the darkness,^t

by the thick darkness that covers my face.