¹⁴ How then can I answer him,
    choosing my words with him?

⁵ Answer me, if you can;
    set your words in order before me; take your stand.^(A)

⁶ how much less a mortal, who is a maggot,
    and a human being, who is a worm!”^(A)

⁷ There the upright could reason with him,
    and I should be acquitted forever by my judge.^(A)

⁴ I would lay my case before him
    and fill my mouth with arguments.^(A)

⁴ For you say, ‘My conduct^[a] is pure,
    and I am clean in God’s^[b] sight.’^(A)
5 But O that God would speak
    and open his lips to you

³ If one wished to contend with him,
    one could not answer him once in a thousand.^(A)

¹⁹ how much more those who live in houses of clay,
    whose foundation is in the dust,
    who are crushed like a moth.^(A)