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Job: How Can I Argue with God?

¹ Then Job answered:² “Yes, I know that it is so, but how can a mortal be righteous before God?³ If one wished to contend with God, he could not answer Him one time out of a thousand.⁴ God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has resisted Him and prospered?⁵ He moves mountains without their knowledge, when He overturns them in His anger.⁶ He shakes the earth from its place, so that its foundations tremble.⁷ He commands the sun not to shine, and seals off the stars.⁸ He alone stretches out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea.⁹ He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion, of the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.¹⁰ He does great things beyond searching out, and wonders without number.¹¹ Were He to pass by me, I would not see Him; were He to move, I would not recognize Him.¹² If He snatches away, who can stop Him? Who dares to ask Him, ‘What are You doing?’¹³ God does not restrain His anger; the helpers of Rahab cower beneath Him.

¹⁴ How then can I answer Him or choose my arguments against Him?¹⁵ For even if I were right, I could not answer. I could only beg my Judge for mercy.¹⁶ If I summoned Him and He answered me, I do not believe He would listen to my voice.¹⁷ For He would crush me with a tempest and multiply my wounds without cause.¹⁸ He does not let me catch my breath, but overwhelms me with bitterness.¹⁹ If it is a matter of strength, He is indeed mighty! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon Him^(a)?²⁰ Even if I were righteous, my mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, it would declare me guilty.²¹ Though I am blameless, I have no concern for myself; I despise my own life.

²² It is all the same, and so I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’²³ When the scourge brings sudden death, He mocks the despair of the innocent.²⁴ The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; He blindfolds its judges. If it is not He, then who is it?

²⁵ My days are swifter than a runner; they flee without seeing good.²⁶ They sweep by like boats of papyrus, like an eagle swooping down on its prey.²⁷ If I were to say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will change my expression, and smile,’²⁸ I would still dread all my sufferings; I know that You will not acquit me.²⁹ Since I am already found guilty, why should I labor in vain?³⁰ If I should wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye,³¹ then You would plunge me into the pit, and even my own clothes would despise me!³² For He is not a man like me, that I can answer Him, that we can take each other to court.³³ Nor is there a mediator between us, to lay his hand upon us both.³⁴ Let Him remove His rod from me, so that His terror will no longer frighten me.³⁵ Then I would speak without fear of Him. But as it is, I am on my own.