² I know well that it is so;
    but how can anyone be in the right before God?
³ Should one wish to contend with him,^[a]
    he could not answer him once in a thousand times.
⁴ God is wise in heart and mighty in strength;
    who has withstood him and remained whole?
⁵ He removes the mountains before they know it;
    he overturns them in his anger.
⁶ He shakes the earth out of its place,^(A)
    and the pillars beneath it tremble.
⁷ He commands the sun, and it does not rise;
    he seals up the stars.
⁸ He alone stretches out the heavens^(B)
    and treads upon the back of the sea.
⁹ He made the Bear and Orion,
    the Pleiades and the constellations of the south;
¹⁰ He does things great and unsearchable,
    things marvelous and innumerable.
¹¹ Should he come near me, I do not see him;
    should he pass by, I am not aware of him;
¹² Should he seize me forcibly, who can resist?
    Who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
¹³ He is God and he does not relent;
    the helpers of Rahab^[b] bow beneath him.
¹⁴ How then could I give him any answer,
    or choose out arguments against him!
¹⁵ Even though I were right, I could not answer,^(C)
    but should rather beg for what was due me.
¹⁶ If I appealed to him and he answered me,
    I could not believe that he would listen to me;
¹⁷ With a storm he might overwhelm me,
    and multiply my wounds for nothing;
¹⁸ He would not allow me to draw breath,
    but might fill me with bitter griefs.
¹⁹ If it be a question of strength, he is mighty;
    or of judgment, who will call him to account?
²⁰ Though I were right, my own mouth might condemn me;^(D)
    were I innocent, it might put me in the wrong.
²¹ I am innocent, but I cannot know it;
    I despise my life.
²² It is all one! therefore I say:
    Both the innocent and the wicked he destroys.^(E)
23 When the scourge slays suddenly,
    he scoffs at the despair of the innocent.
²⁴ The earth is given into the hands of the wicked;
    he covers the faces of its judges.
    If it is not he, who then is it?
²⁵ My days are swifter than a runner,
    they flee away; they see no happiness;^(F)
26 They shoot by like skiffs of reed,
    like an eagle swooping upon its prey.
²⁷ If I say: I will forget my complaining,
    I will lay aside my sadness and be of good cheer,
²⁸ Then I am in dread of all my pains;
    I know that you^[c] will not hold me innocent.
²⁹ It is I who will be accounted guilty;
    why then should I strive in vain?
³⁰ If I should wash myself with soap
    and cleanse my hands with lye,
³¹ Yet you would plunge me in the ditch,
    so that my garments would abhor me.
³² For he is not a man like myself, that I should answer him,
    that we should come together in judgment.
³³ Would that there were an arbiter between us,
    who could lay his hand upon us both
³⁴     and withdraw his rod from me,
So that his terrors did not frighten me;
³⁵     that I might speak without being afraid of him.
Since this is not the case with me,
^{1     [d]}I loathe my life.^(G)