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1 Job replied, 2 “Just the same, my complaints today remain bitter. In spite of my groaning he is still punishing me.* 3 If only I knew where I could find him so I could go to where he sits in judgment. 4 There I would lay out my case before him and present all my arguments in full. 5 I would discover how he would answer me and learn what he has to say to me. 6 Would he fight against me using his mighty power? No, he would pay attention to what I have to say. 7 There a good† person could reason with him, and I would be acquitted forever by my judge. 8 If I go to the east, he's not there; if I go the west, I don't find him. 9 If he's working in the north, I don't perceive him; if he's moving south, I don't see him.
10 Yet he always knows where I'm going. When he has proved me, I will come out shining like gold.‡ 11 I have kept in step with him; I have followed his way without turning aside. 12 I have not neglected his commands, for I value what he has told me to do more than the food I eat every day.
13 But God is unchangeable—who can turn him from his purposes? He does whatever he wants to do. 14 So he will finish whatever he has planned for me—and he has many plans for me. 15 That's why I'm terrified at meeting him;§ when I think of him I tremble with fear. 16 God has made me faint-hearted; the Almighty has scared me to death. 17 Yet I'm still here despite the dark—even though I can't see through the utter darkness.”*
* 23:2 Literally, “his hand is heavy on me.” † 23:7 Or “upright.” ‡ 23:10 The image here is of testing gold in a crucible: once the impurities are burned away, the liquid gold has a brilliant surface. § 23:15 Literally, “his presence.” * 23:17 The Hebrew here is difficult: “Because I am not cut off by reason of darkness and from my face which thick darkness covers.”