1Then Job answered:
2Today also my complaint is bitter. His hand is heavy despite my groaning.
3If only I knew how to find him, so that I could go to his throne.
4I would plead my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments.
5I would learn how he would answer me; and understand what he would say to me.
6Would he prosecute me forcefully? No, he would certainly pay attention to me.
7Then an upright man could reason with him, and I would escape from my Judge forever.
8If I go east, he is not there, and if I go west, I cannot perceive him.
9When he is at work to the north, I cannot see him; when he turns south, I cannot find him.
10Yet he knows the way I have taken; when he has tested me, I will emerge as pure gold.
11My feet have followed in his tracks; I have kept to his way and not turned aside.
12I have not departed from the commands from his lips; I have treasured the words from his mouth more than my daily food.
13But he is unchangeable; who can oppose him? He does what he desires.
14He will certainly accomplish what he has decreed for me, and he has many more things like these in mind.
15Therefore I am terrified in his presence; when I consider this, I am afraid of him.
16God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me.
17Yet I am not destroyed by the darkness, by the thick darkness that covers my face.