And Job answered and said,
Verily I know that [it is] so,{HR}But how shall mortal man be just, with God?
If he desire to dispute with him,{HR}He cannot answer him one of a thousand:
Wise in heart, and mighty in strength!{HR}Who hath held out against him, and been unhurt?
He removeth mountains, and they know not{HR}That he hath overturned them in his wrath;
He shaketh the earth out of its place,{HR}And the pillars of it rock themselves;
He commandeth the sun, and it riseth not,{HR}And he setteth a seal about the stars,
Spreading out the heavens himself alone,{HR}And treading on the heights of the sea,
Making Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades,{HR}And the chambers of the south;
Doing great things past finding out,{HR}And unraveling things past reckoning.
Lo, he passeth by me, and I see him not.{HR}And he glideth before me, and I perceive him not.
Lo, he snatcheth away: who shall turn him away?{HR}Who saith to him, What doest thou?
God turneth not from his wrath:{HR}The helpers of pride have stooped under him.
How much less should I answer him —{HR}Choose out my words with him?
Whom, though I were just, I would not answer;{HR}For mercy would I plead with my Judge.
Though I had cited him, and he had answered me,{HR}I would not believe that he would listen to me,
For he bruiseth me with a storm,{HR}And multiplieth my wounds without cause.
He suffereth me not to draw my breath,{HR}But surfeiteth me with bitternesses.
If [I turn] to might, lo, [he is] strong,{HR}If to judicial trial, who will cite me?
If I justify myself, my mouth would condemn me.{HR}I perfect! He would prove me perverse.
I perfect! should not know my own soul,{HR}I should despise my life.
It [is] all one: therefore I said,{HR}He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.
If the scourge slay suddenly,{HR}He laugheth at the trial of the innocent.
The earth is given into the hand of the wicked,{HR}The face of the judges he veileth:{HR}If not then, who [is] he?
And my days are swifter than a runner,{HR}They flee, they see not good;
They have swept past like skiffs of reed,{HR}As an eagle swoopeth on the prey.
If I say, I will forget my plaint,{HR}I will leave off my looks, and brighten up;
I shudder at all my sorrows,{HR}I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent.
For me, I am to be guilty why labour I then in vain?
If I wash myself with snow-water,{HR}And cleanse my hands with lye,
Then wouldest thou plunge me in the ditch,{HR}And mine own clothes would abhor me.
For [he is] not a man as I [that] I should answer him.{HR}Let us come together in judgment,
There is between us no arbiter,{HR}Who might lay his hand on us both.
Let him take his rod from off me,{HR}And let not his terror frighten me;
I would speak, and not fear him,{HR}But not thus I with myself.