[1] Then Job spoke again:
[2] “Yes, I know all this is true in principle. But how can a person be declared innocent in God’s sight?
[3] If someone wanted to take God to court, would it be possible to answer him even once in a thousand times?
[4] For God is so wise and so mighty. Who has ever challenged him successfully?
[5] “Without warning, he moves the mountains, overturning them in his anger.
[6] He shakes the earth from its place, and its foundations tremble.
[7] If he commands it, the sun won’t rise and the stars won’t shine.
[8] He alone has spread out the heavens and marches on the waves of the sea.
[9] He made all the stars—the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the southern sky.
[10] He does great things too marvelous to understand. He performs countless miracles.
[11] “Yet when he comes near, I cannot see him. When he moves by, I do not see him go.
[12] If he snatches someone in death, who can stop him? Who dares to ask, ‘What are you doing?’
[13] And God does not restrain his anger. Even the monsters of the sea are crushed beneath his feet.
[14] “So who am I, that I should try to answer God or even reason with him?
[15] Even if I were right, I would have no defense. I could only plead for mercy.
[16] And even if I summoned him and he responded, I’m not sure he would listen to me.
[17] For he attacks me with a storm and repeatedly wounds me without cause.
[18] He will not let me catch my breath, but fills me instead with bitter sorrows.
[19] If it’s a question of strength, he’s the strong one. If it’s a matter of justice, who dares to summon him to court?
[20] Though I am innocent, my own mouth would pronounce me guilty. Though I am blameless, it would prove me wicked.
[21] “I am innocent, but it makes no difference to me— I despise my life.
[22] Innocent or wicked, it is all the same to God. That’s why I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
[23] When a plague sweeps through, he laughs at the death of the innocent.
[24] The whole earth is in the hands of the wicked, and God blinds the eyes of the judges. If he’s not the one who does it, who is?
[25] “My life passes more swiftly than a runner. It flees away without a glimpse of happiness.
[26] It disappears like a swift papyrus boat, like an eagle swooping down on its prey.
[27] If I decided to forget my complaints, to put away my sad face and be cheerful,
[28] I would still dread all the pain, for I know you will not find me innocent, O God.
[29] Whatever happens, I will be found guilty. So what’s the use of trying?
[30] Even if I were to wash myself with soap and clean my hands with lye,
[31] you would plunge me into a muddy ditch, and my own filthy clothing would hate me.
[32] “God is not a mortal like me, so I cannot argue with him or take him to trial.
[33] If only there were a mediator between us, someone who could bring us together.
[34] The mediator could make God stop beating me, and I would no longer live in terror of his punishment.
[35] Then I could speak to him without fear, but I cannot do that in my own strength.