Job 23 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

Job Replies: Where Is God?

Job 23:1

Job 23:1Then Job answered and said:

Job 23:2

Job 23:2“Today also my complaint is bitter;[fn]
my hand is heavy on account of my groaning.

Job 23:3

Job 23:3Oh, that I knew where I might find him,
that I might come even to his seat!

Job 23:4

Job 23:4I would lay my case before him
and fill my mouth with arguments.

Job 23:5

Job 23:5I would know what he would answer me
and understand what he would say to me.

Job 23:6

Job 23:6Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?
No; he would pay attention to me.

Job 23:7

Job 23:7There an upright man could argue with him,
and I would be acquitted forever by my judge.

Job 23:8

Job 23:8“Behold, I go forward, but he is not there,
and backward, but I do not perceive him;

Job 23:9

Job 23:9on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him;
he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.

Job 23:10

Job 23:10But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.

Job 23:11

Job 23:11My foot has held fast to his steps;
I have kept his way and have not turned aside.

Job 23:12

Job 23:12I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;
I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.

Job 23:13

Job 23:13But he is unchangeable,[fn] and who can turn him back?
What he desires, that he does.

Job 23:14

Job 23:14For he will complete what he appoints for me,
and many such things are in his mind.

Job 23:15

Job 23:15Therefore I am terrified at his presence;
when I consider, I am in dread of him.

Job 23:16

Job 23:16God has made my heart faint;
the Almighty has terrified me;

Job 23:17

Job 23:17yet I am not silenced because of the darkness,
nor because thick darkness covers my face.

See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

ESV Footnotes

(23:2)

Or defiant

(23:13)

Or one

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