² “Indeed, I realize that this is true,
    but how can anyone claim to be righteous before God?
³ If someone wished to debate with him,
    he could not answer him once in a thousand.
⁴ God is wise in heart and mighty in strength;
    who then has resisted him and remained unscathed?
⁵ “He moves mountains without their realizing it
    and overturns them in his anger.
⁶ He shakes the earth out of its place,
    and makes its pillars tremble.
⁷ He commands the sun, and it does not rise;
    he seals up the light of the stars.
⁸ He alone stretches out the heavens
    and tramples upon the waves of the sea.
⁹ He made the Bear and Orion,
    the Pleiades^[c] and the constellations of the South.
¹⁰ “God performs deeds that are beyond understanding
    and marvels that cannot be numbered.
¹¹ If he passes near me, I do not see him;
    he moves on, imperceptible to me.
¹² If he snatches something away, who can stop him?
    Who will dare to ask him, ‘What are you doing?’
¹³ God will not relent in his wrath;
    the servants of Rahab lie prostrate at his feet.

¹⁴ “How then can I possibly reply to him
    or devise arguments to counter him?
¹⁵ Even if I am innocent, how can I answer him?
    I can only plead that he have mercy on me.
¹⁶ “Even if I summoned him and he responded,
    I do not believe that he would listen to what I said.
¹⁷ He might crush me in a tempest
    and multiply my wounds without cause.
¹⁸ He might leave me no opportunity to regain my breath
    and fill me with bitterness.
¹⁹ “If it is a contest of strength,
    I cannot compete with him.
If it is a matter of judgment,
    who can summon him to present his evidence?
²⁰ Even though I am innocent,
    my own mouth might condemn me.
Even though I am blameless,
    he might prove me guilty.
²¹ But am I without blame?
    I am no longer certain.
    Life itself I despise.
²² “It is all the same; that is why I say,
    ‘He destroys both the innocent and the wicked.’
²³ When a deadly scourge suddenly appears,
    he mocks the despair of the innocent.
²⁴ When the earth is given into the hands of the wicked,
    he blindfolds the eyes of its judges.^[e]
If it is not he who does so,
    then who else is responsible?

²⁵ “My days pass more swiftly than a runner;
    they fly away without any experience of happiness.
²⁶ They skim past like boats of papyrus,
    like an eagle swooping upon its prey.
²⁷ If I say, ‘I will forget my complaints,
    I will put on a cheerful face instead of a sad countenance,’
²⁸ I will still dread my sufferings,
    for I know that you will not hold me innocent.
²⁹ “If I am to be condemned as guilty,
    why then should I struggle in vain?
³⁰ If I should wash myself with snow
    and cleanse my hands with lye,
³¹ you would plunge me into a dung-filled ditch
    so that even my clothes would abhor me.
³² “For God is not a man like me,
    someone before whom I can plead my case
    or whom I can confront in a court.
³³ There is no arbiter to judge between us
    with the power to render a verdict,
³⁴ someone who could remove God’s rod from me
    so that I would not shrink from him in terror.
³⁵ Then I would speak out without fear of him,
    for I know I am not what I am thought to be.