Job Responds: He Longs for God

1Then Job answered and said,

2Even to day [is] my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning.

3Oh that I knew where I might find him! [that] I might come [even] to his seat!

4I would order [my] cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.

5I would know the words [which] he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me.

6Will he plead against me with [his] great power? No; but he would put [strength] in me.

7There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my judge.

8Behold, I go forward, but he [is] not [there]; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:

9On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold [him]: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see [him]:

10But he knoweth the way that I take: [when] he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

11My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.

12Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary [food].

13But he [is] in one [mind], and who can turn him? and [what] his soul desireth, even [that] he doeth.

14For he performeth [the thing that is] appointed for me: and many such [things are] with him.

15Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him.

16For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me:

17Because I was not cut off before the darkness, [neither] hath he covered the darkness from my face.