Job Responds: He Longs for God
1And Job answereth and saith:—
2Also—to-day [is] my complaint bitter, My hand hath been heavy because of my sighing.
3O that I had known—and I find Him, I come in unto His seat,
4I arrange before Him the cause, And my mouth fill [with] arguments.
5I know the words He doth answer me, And understand what He saith to me.
6In the abundance of power doth He strive with me? No! surely He putteth [it] in me.
7There the upright doth reason with Him, And I escape for ever from my judge.
8Lo, forward I go—and He is not, And backward—and I perceive him not.
9[To] the left in His working—and I see not, He is covered [on] the right, and I behold not.
10For He hath known the way with me, He hath tried me—as gold I go forth.
11On His step hath my foot laid hold, His way I have kept, and turn not aside,
12The command of His lips, and I depart not. Above my allotted portion I have laid up The sayings of His mouth.
13And He [is] in one [mind], And who doth turn Him back? And His soul hath desired—and He doth [it].
14For He doth complete my portion, And many such things [are] with Him.
15Therefore, from His presence I am troubled, I consider, and am afraid of Him.
16And God hath made my heart soft, And the Mighty hath troubled me.
17For I have not been cut off before darkness, And before me He covered thick darkness.