Job 23

23RD CHAPTER

Job Speaks:

Where Can I Find God?

¹Then Job replied ⸤to his friends⸥, 

²“My complaint is bitter again today. 

I try hard to control my sighing. 

³“If only I knew where I could find God! 

I would go where he lives. 

⁴I would present ⸤my⸥ case to him. 

I would have a mouthful of arguments. 

⁵I want to know the words he would use to answer me. 

I want to understand the things he would say to me. 

⁶Would he sue me and hide behind great legal maneuvers? 

No, he certainly would press charges against me. 

⁷Then decent people could argue with him, 

and I would escape my judgment forever. 

⁸However, if I go east, he isn’t there. 

If I go west, I can’t find him. 

⁹If I go northward, where he is at work, I can’t observe him. 

If I turn southward, I can’t see him. 

¹⁰⸤I can’t find him⸥ because he knows the road I take. 

When he tests me, 

I’ll come out as pure as gold. 

¹¹I have followed his footsteps closely. 

I have stayed on his path and did not turn from it. 

¹²I have not left his commands behind. 

I have treasured his words in my heart. 

God Is Against Me

¹³“But God is one of a kind. 

Who can make him change his mind? 

He does whatever he wants! 

¹⁴He will carry out ⸤his⸥ orders concerning me 

as he does with so many other things. 

¹⁵That is why I’m terrified of him. 

When I think of it, I’m afraid of him. 

¹⁶God has discouraged me. 

The Almighty has filled me with terror. 

¹⁷But I am not silenced by the dark 

or by the thick darkness that covers my face.