[1] Then Job answered:
[2] “Yes, I know what you say is true. But how can a man win an argument with God?
[3] A person can’t argue with God! God could ask 1,000 questions and no person could answer even one!
[4] God is very wise and his power is very great. No person can fight God and not be hurt.
[5] God moves mountains when he is angry and they don’t even know it.
[6] God sends earthquakes to shake the earth. God shakes the earth’s foundations.
[7] God can speak to the sun, and make it not rise. He can lock up the stars, so they don’t shine.
[8] God alone made the skies. He walks on the ocean waves.
[9] “God made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades. He made the planets that cross the southern sky.
[10] God does wonderful things that people can’t understand. There is no end to God’s great miracles.
[11] When God goes past me, I can’t see him. When God goes by, I don't notice him.
[12] If God takes something away, no one can stop him. No one can say to him, 'What are you doing?’
[13] God won’t hold his anger back. Even Rahab’s helpers are afraid of God.
[14] So I can’t argue with God. I wouldn’t know what to say to him.
[15] I am innocent, but I can’t give him an answer. All I can do is beg my Judge ˻(God)˼ for mercy.
[16] Even if I called and he answered, I still wouldn’t believe that he really would listen to me.
[17] God would just send storms to crush me. He would just give me more wounds for no reason.
[18] God would’t let me catch my breath again. He would just give me more trouble.
[19] I can’t defeat God. God is too powerful! I can’t take God to court and force him to be fair to me. Who could force God to come to court?
[20] I am innocent, but the things I say make me seem guilty. I am innocent, but if I speak my mouth proves me guilty.
[21] I am innocent. But I don’t know what to think. I hate my own life.
[22] I say to myself, 'The same thing happens to everybody. Innocent people die just like the guilty. God ends all their lives.’
[23] When something terrible happens and an innocent person is killed, does God just laugh at him?
[24] When an evil man takes control of a land, does God keep the leaders from seeing what is happening? If that is true, then who is God anyway?
[25] “My days go faster than a runner. My days fly away and there is no happiness in them.
[26] My days go by quickly like the papyrus boats. My days go by as fast as eagles swooping down to catch an animal.
[27] “If I say, 'I won’t complain. I will forget my pain, I will put a smile on my face.’
[28] It doesn’t really change anything. The suffering still scares me!
[29] I am already judged guilty. So why should I keep trying? I say, 'Forget it!’
[30] Even if I wash myself with snow and make my hands clean with soap,
[31] God will still push me into the slime pit. Then even my clothes will hate me.
[32] God is not a man like me. That is why I can’t answer him. We can’t meet each other in court.
[33] I wish there were someone to listen to both sides. I wish there were someone to judge both of us in a fair way.
[34] I wish there were someone to take God’s punishing stick away. Then God would not scare me any more.
[35] Then I could say what I want to say without being afraid of God. But now I can’t do that.