Job 23

Job Longs for God

¹Then Job answered:

²“Even today my complaint is bitter.

His hand is heavy despite my groaning.

³If only I knew where to find Him,

so that I could go to His seat.1

⁴I would plead my case before Him

and fill my mouth with arguments.

⁵I would learn how He would answer,

and consider what He would say.

⁶Would He contend with me in His great power?

No, He would certainly take note of me.

⁷Then an upright man could reason with Him,

and I would be delivered forever from my Judge.

⁸If I go east, He is not there,

and if I go west, I cannot find Him.1

⁹When He is at work in the north, I cannot behold Him;

when He turns to the south, I cannot see Him.

¹⁰Yet He knows the way I have taken;

when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

¹¹My feet have followed in His tracks;

I have kept His way without turning aside.1

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

I have treasured the words of His mouth

more than my daily bread.1

¹³But He is unchangeable, and who can oppose Him?

He does what He desires.

¹⁴For He carries out His decree against me,

and He has many such plans.

¹⁵Therefore I am terrified in His presence;

when I consider this, I fear Him.

¹⁶God has made my heart faint;

the Almighty has terrified me.

¹⁷Yet I am not silenced by the darkness,

by the thick darkness that covers my face.