Job 23 :: Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

Today also my complaint is bitter.[fn]

His[fn] hand is heavy despite my groaning.

If only I knew how to find him,

so that I could go to his throne.

I would plead my case before him

and fill my mouth with arguments.

I would learn how[fn] he would answer me;

and understand what he would say to me.

Would he prosecute me forcefully?

No, he would certainly pay attention to me.

Then an upright man could reason with him,

and I would escape from my Judge[fn] forever.

If I go east, he is not there,

and if I go west, I cannot perceive him.

When he is at work to the north, I cannot see him;

when he turns south, I cannot find him.

Yet he knows the way I have taken;[fn]

when he has tested me, I will emerge as pure gold.

My feet have followed in his tracks;

I have kept to his way and not turned aside.

I have not departed from the commands from his lips;

I have treasured[fn] the words from his mouth

more than my daily food.

But he is unchangeable; who can oppose him?

He does what he desires.

He will certainly accomplish what he has decreed for me,

and he has many more things like these in mind.[fn]

Therefore I am terrified in his presence;

when I consider this, I am afraid of him.

God has made my heart faint;

the Almighty has terrified me.

Yet I am not destroyed[fn] by the darkness,

by the thick darkness that covers my face.