Job 9:21-35

English Standard Version

²¹I am ^(A)blameless; I regard not myself;
    I ^(B)loathe my life.
²²It is all one; therefore I say,
    ‘He ^(C)destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
²³When ^(D)disaster brings sudden death,
    he mocks at the calamity^[a] of the innocent.
²⁴^(E)The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;
    he ^(F)covers the faces of its judges—
    ^(G)if it is not he, who then is it?

²⁵“My ^(H)days are swifter than ^(I)a runner;
    they flee away; they see no good.
²⁶They go by like ^(J)skiffs of reed,
    like ^(K)an eagle swooping on the prey.
²⁷If I say, ^(L)‘I will forget my complaint,
    I will put off my sad face, and ^(M)be of good cheer,’
²⁸I become ^(N)afraid of all my suffering,
    for I know you will not ^(O)hold me innocent.
²⁹I shall be ^(P)condemned;
    why then do I labor in vain?
³⁰If I wash myself with snow
    and ^(Q)cleanse my hands with lye,
³¹yet you will plunge me into a pit,
    and my own clothes will ^(R)abhor me.
³²For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him,
    that we should ^(S)come to trial together.
³³^(T)There is no^[b] arbiter between us,
    who might lay his hand on us both.
³⁴^(U)Let him take his ^(V)rod away from me,
    and let ^(W)not dread of him terrify me.
³⁵Then I would speak without fear of him,
    for I am not so in myself.