Job 9:12-35  New King James Version

¹⁴ “How then can I answer Him,
And choose my words to reason with Him?
^15 (C)For though I were righteous, I could not answer Him;
I would beg mercy of my Judge.
¹⁶ If I called and He answered me,
I would not believe that He was listening to my voice.
¹⁷ For He crushes me with a tempest,
And multiplies my wounds ^(D)without cause.
¹⁸ He will not allow me to catch my breath,
But fills me with bitterness.
¹⁹ If it is a matter of strength, indeed He is strong;
And if of justice, who will appoint my day in court?
²⁰ Though I were righteous, my own mouth would condemn me;
Though I were blameless, it would prove me perverse.

²¹ “I am blameless, yet I do not know myself;
I despise my life.
²² It is all one thing;
Therefore I say, ^(E)‘He destroys the blameless and the wicked.’
²³ If the scourge slays suddenly,
He laughs at the plight of the innocent.
²⁴ The earth is given into the hand of the wicked.
He covers the faces of its judges.
If it is not He, who else could it be?

²⁵ “Now ^(F)my days are swifter than a runner;
They flee away, they see no good.
²⁶ They pass by like ^[c]swift ships,
^(G)Like an eagle swooping on its prey.
^27 (H)If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint,
I will put off my sad face and wear a smile,’
^28 (I)I am afraid of all my sufferings;
I know that You ^(J)will not hold me innocent.
²⁹ If I am condemned,
Why then do I labor in vain?
^30 (K)If I wash myself with snow water,
And cleanse my hands with ^[d]soap,
³¹ Yet You will plunge me into the pit,
And my own clothes will ^[e]abhor me.

³² “For ^(L)He is not a man, as I am,
That I may answer Him,
And that we should go to court together.
^33 (M)Nor is there any mediator between us,
Who may lay his hand on us both.
^34 (N)Let Him take His rod away from me,
And do not let dread of Him terrify me.
³⁵ Then I would speak and not fear Him,
But it is not so with me.