Job 23:1-12

Common English Bible

² Today my complaint is again bitter;^[a]
    my strength is weighed down because of my groaning.
³ Oh, that I could know how to find him—
    come to his dwelling place;
⁴     I would lay out my case before him,
        fill my mouth with arguments,
⁵     know the words with which he would answer,
        understand what he would say to me.
⁶ Would he contend with me through brute force?
    No, he would surely listen to me.
⁷ There those who do the right thing can argue with him;
    I could escape from my judge forever.

⁸ Look, I go east; he’s not there,
    west, and don’t discover him;
⁹     north in his activity, and I don’t grasp him;
    he turns south, and I don’t see.
¹⁰ Surely he knows my way;
    when he tests me,
    I will emerge as gold.
¹¹ My feet have stayed right in his tracks.
    I have kept his way and not left it,
¹²     kept the commandments from his lips and not departed,
    valued the words from his mouth more than my food.