² “Yes, I know all this is true in principle.
    But how can a person be declared innocent in God’s sight?
³ If someone wanted to take God to court,^[a]
    would it be possible to answer him even once in a thousand times?
⁴ For God is so wise and so mighty.
    Who has ever challenged him successfully?

⁵ “Without warning, he moves the mountains,
    overturning them in his anger.
⁶ He shakes the earth from its place,
    and its foundations tremble.
⁷ If he commands it, the sun won’t rise
    and the stars won’t shine.
⁸ He alone has spread out the heavens
    and marches on the waves of the sea.
⁹ He made all the stars—the Bear and Orion,
    the Pleiades and the constellations of the southern sky.
¹⁰ He does great things too marvelous to understand.
    He performs countless miracles.

¹¹ “Yet when he comes near, I cannot see him.
    When he moves by, I do not see him go.
¹² If he snatches someone in death, who can stop him?
    Who dares to ask, ‘What are you doing?’
¹³ And God does not restrain his anger.
    Even the monsters of the sea^[b] are crushed beneath his feet.

¹⁴ “So who am I, that I should try to answer God
    or even reason with him?
¹⁵ Even if I were right, I would have no defense.
    I could only plead for mercy.
¹⁶ And even if I summoned him and he responded,
    I’m not sure he would listen to me.
¹⁷ For he attacks me with a storm
    and repeatedly wounds me without cause.
¹⁸ He will not let me catch my breath,
    but fills me instead with bitter sorrows.
¹⁹ If it’s a question of strength, he’s the strong one.
    If it’s a matter of justice, who dares to summon him^[c] to court?
²⁰ Though I am innocent, my own mouth would pronounce me guilty.
    Though I am blameless, it^[d] would prove me wicked.

²¹ “I am innocent,
    but it makes no difference to me—
    I despise my life.
²² Innocent or wicked, it is all the same to God.
    That’s why I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
²³ When a plague^[e] sweeps through,
    he laughs at the death of the innocent.
²⁴ The whole earth is in the hands of the wicked,
    and God blinds the eyes of the judges.
    If he’s not the one who does it, who is?

²⁵ “My life passes more swiftly than a runner.
    It flees away without a glimpse of happiness.
²⁶ It disappears like a swift papyrus boat,
    like an eagle swooping down on its prey.
²⁷ If I decided to forget my complaints,
    to put away my sad face and be cheerful,
²⁸ I would still dread all the pain,
    for I know you will not find me innocent, O God.
²⁹ Whatever happens, I will be found guilty.
    So what’s the use of trying?
³⁰ Even if I were to wash myself with soap
    and clean my hands with lye,
³¹ you would plunge me into a muddy ditch,
    and my own filthy clothing would hate me.

³² “God is not a mortal like me,
    so I cannot argue with him or take him to trial.
³³ If only there were a mediator between us,
    someone who could bring us together.
³⁴ The mediator could make God stop beating me,
    and I would no longer live in terror of his punishment.
³⁵ Then I could speak to him without fear,
    but I cannot do that in my own strength.