Read the Bible

² "Truly I know that it is so,
but^[b] how can a human being be just before God?
³ If he wants to contend with him,
he cannot answer him one time in a thousand.
⁴ He is wise in^[c] heart and mighty in^[d] strength;
who has resisted him and succeeded?^[e]
5 "He is the one who moves mountains, and they do not know how,
who overturns them in his anger.
⁶ He is the one who shakes the earth from its place,
and its pillars tremble.
⁷ He is the one who commands the sun, and it does not rise,
and he seals up the stars.^[f]
8 He is the one who alone stretches out the heavens
and who tramples on the waves of the sea.
⁹ He is the one who made the Bear and Orion,
the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.
¹⁰ He is the one who does great things beyond understanding^[g]
and marvelous things beyond number.^[h]
11 "If^[i] he passes by me, I would not see him;^[j]
and if he should move on, I would not recognize him.^[k]
12 If^[l] he would snatch away, who could turn him?
Who could say to him, ‘What are you doing?'
¹³ God will not turn back his anger;
beneath him the helpers of Rahab bow.
¹⁴ How much less^[m] can I myself^[n] answer him?
How can I choose my words with him,
¹⁵ whom I cannot answer, even though I am righteous?
From^[o] my judge I must implore grace.
¹⁶ If I summon him, and he should answer me,
I do not believe that he will listen to my voice—
¹⁷ who crushes me with a tempest
and multiplies^[p] my wounds without cause.
¹⁸ He will not allow me to catch^[q] my breath;
rather, he will fill me with bitterness.
¹⁹ If it is a matter of^[r] strength, look, he is mighty.
But^[s] if it is a matter of^[t] justice, who can summon me?^[u]
20 Even though I am righteous, my mouth will condemn me;
even though I am blameless, yet^[v] it would pronounce me guilty.
²¹ "I am blameless; I do not care about myself;^[w]
I loathe my life.
²² It is all one; therefore I say,
‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.'
²³ When the whip^[x] kills suddenly,
he mocks at the despair of the innocent.
²⁴ The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;
he covers the face of its judge—
if it is not he, then who is it?
²⁵ "And my days are swifter than a runner;
they flee away; they do not see good.
²⁶ They go by like papyrus skiffs,
like an eagle swoops down on its prey.
²⁷ Though^[y] I say,^[z] ‘I will forget my complaint;
I will change my expression, and I will rejoice,'
²⁸ I become afraid of all my sufferings;
I know that you do not consider me innocent.
²⁹ If I shall be declared guilty,
why then should I labor in vain?
³⁰ If I wash myself with soap,^[aa]
and I cleanse my hands with lye,
³¹ then you plunge me into the slime pit,
and my clothes abhor me.
³² "For^[ab] he is not a mortal like me that I can answer him,
that we can come to trial together.^[ac]
33 There is no arbiter between us
that he might lay his hand on both of us.
³⁴ May he remove his rod from me,
and let his dread not terrify me;
³⁵ then I would speak and not fear him,^[ad]
for in myself I am not fearful.^[ae]