Then Job spoke out saying:
Indeed, I know that this is so,
A mortal cannot prevail in court against God.
If one wished to contend with God,
They would not succeed once with a thousand tries.
However wise and stout hearted one may be,
Who has ever argued with God,
And emerged unscathed?
God removes mountains without their awareness,
Overturning them in His wrath.
God shakes the earth from its place,
And it’s pillars tremble.
God commands the sun,
And it does not rise,
He seals off the light of the stars.
God alone stretches out the heavens,
And treads upon the back of the sea.
He covers The Bear, Orion, The Pleiades,
And the constellations of the South.
Who performs wonders beyond man’s grasp,
Miracles beyond numbering?
Lo, He passes by me,
I do not see,
He moves on,
I do not perceive.
Behold, when He takes,
Who could hinder Him?
Who can say to Him, “What are you doing”?
God does not turn back His wrath,
Under which Rahab’s cohorts sink down,
How then could I debate Him?
Choosing words to match with His?
Even if I were righteous,
I could not respond,
I could only beg my opponent for mercy.
If I summoned Him,
would He respond?
I cannot believe that He would give me a hearing.
He crushes me for a triffle,
He wounds me much without cause.
He does not suffer me to catch my breath,
As He sates me with bitterness.
If it be a matter of power,
He is almighty,
But if of Justice,
Who can summon God?
Though I were innocent,
My mouth would convict me.
Though I were blameless,
It would prove me guilty.
I am blameless,
I am distraught,
I am despised of life.
It is all one,
I say,
He destroys the blameless and the wicked alike.
When punishment brings instant death,
He disappoints the hopes of the innocent’s plea.
The land is given over to the hands of the evil doer,
Who is able to bribe the judges?
If not He,
Who then is responsible?
My days are swifter than a runner,
They flee without seeing happiness,
Skim past like skiffs of reed,
Like an Eagle swooping down on its prey.
If I say I shall forget my lament,
Abandon my sorrow and be diverted,
Then I remain in dread of all my suffering,
Knowing you will never count me innocent.
I shall surely be condemned,
Why then do I labor in vain?
Even if I bathed in liquid snow,
And purified my palms with lye,
Yet you would plunge me into a pit,
Till my clothes were loathsome to me.
For God is not a man like me,
Whom I could answer,
That we might Go to court together.
If only there were an arbiter between us,
Who could lay his hand upon us both.
Who could remove God’s rod from me,
So that my fear of Him would not terrify me,
Then I could speak without fear of Him,
For He is far from just to me.