Job 9:25–35

25 “My days are swifter than a runner;q

they fly away without a glimpse of joy.r

26 They skim pasts like boats of papyrus,t

like eagles swooping down on their prey.u

27 If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint,v

I will change my expression, and smile,’

28 I still dreadw all my sufferings,

for I know you will not hold me innocent.x

29 Since I am already found guilty,

why should I struggle in vain?y

30 Even if I washed myself with soapz

and my handsa with cleansing powder,b

31 you would plunge me into a slime pitc

so that even my clothes would detest me.d

32 “He is not a mere mortale like me that I might answer him,f

that we might confront each other in court.g

33 If only there were someone to mediate between us,h

someone to bring us together,i

34 someone to remove God’s rod from me,j

so that his terror would frighten me no more.k

35 Then I would speak up without fear of him,l

but as it now stands with me, I cannot.m