job

Job’s Reply to Eliphaz

23 
Then Job answered:

Today also my complaint is bitter.[a]

His[b] hand is heavy despite my groaning.

If only I knew how to find Him,

so that I could go to His throne.

I would plead my case before Him

and fill my mouth with arguments.

I would learn how[c] He would answer me;

and understand what He would say to me.

Would He prosecute me forcefully?

No, He will certainly pay attention to me.

Then an upright man could reason with Him,

and I would escape from my Judge forever.

If I go east, He is not there,

and if I go west, I cannot perceive Him.

When He is at work to the north, I cannot see Him;

when He turns south, I cannot find Him.

10 Yet He knows the way I have taken;[d]

when He has tested me, I will emerge as pure gold.

11 My feet have followed in His tracks;

I have kept to His way and not turned aside.

12 I have not departed from the commands of His lips;

I have treasured[e] the words of His mouth

more than my daily food.

13 But He is unchangeable; who can oppose Him?

He does what He desires.

14 He will certainly accomplish what He has decreed for me,

and He has many more things like these in mind.[f]

15 Therefore I am terrified in His presence;

when I consider this, I am afraid of Him.

16 God has made my heart faint;

the Almighty has terrified me.

17 Yet I am not destroyed[g] by the darkness,

by the thick darkness that covers my face.

Footnotes

  1. Job 23:2 Syr, Tg, Vg; MT reads rebellion
  2. Job 23:2 LXX, Syr; MT reads My
  3. Job 23:5 Lit the words
  4. Job 23:10 Lit way with me
  5. Job 23:12 LXX, Vg read treasured in my bosom
  6. Job 23:14 Lit these with Him
  7. Job 23:17 Or silenced