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² "Indeed I know that this is so;
    but how can a mortal be just before God?
³ If one wished to contend with him,
    one could not answer him once in a thousand.
⁴ He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength
—who has resisted him, and succeeded?—
⁵ he who removes mountains, and they do not know it,
    when he overturns them in his anger;
⁶ who shakes the earth out of its place,
    and its pillars tremble;
⁷ who commands the sun, and it does not rise;
    who seals up the stars;
⁸ who alone stretched out the heavens
    and trampled the waves of the Sea;^[a]
9 who made the Bear and Orion,
    the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;
¹⁰ who does great things beyond understanding,
    and marvelous things without number.
¹¹ Look, he passes by me, and I do not see him;
    he moves on, but I do not perceive him.
¹² He snatches away; who can stop him?
    Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?'

¹³ "God will not turn back his anger;
    the helpers of Rahab bowed beneath him.
¹⁴ How then can I answer him,
    choosing my words with him?
¹⁵ Though I am innocent, I cannot answer him;
    I must appeal for mercy to my accuser.^[b]
16 If I summoned him and he answered me,
    I do not believe that he would listen to my voice.
¹⁷ For he crushes me with a tempest,
    and multiplies my wounds without cause;
¹⁸ he will not let me get my breath,
    but fills me with bitterness.
¹⁹ If it is a contest of strength, he is the strong one!
    If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?^[c]
20 Though I am innocent, my own mouth would condemn me;
    though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
²¹ I am blameless; I do not know myself;
    I loathe my life.
²² It is all one; therefore I say,
    he destroys both the blameless and the wicked.
²³ When disaster brings sudden death,
    he mocks at the calamity^[d] of the innocent.
²⁴ The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;
    he covers the eyes of its judges—
    if it is not he, who then is it?

²⁵ "My days are swifter than a runner;
    they flee away, they see no good.
²⁶ They go by like skiffs of reed,
    like an eagle swooping on the prey.
²⁷ If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint;
    I will put off my sad countenance and be of good cheer,'
²⁸ I become afraid of all my suffering,
    for I know you will not hold me innocent.
²⁹ I shall be condemned;
    why then do I labor in vain?
³⁰ If I wash myself with soap
    and cleanse my hands with lye,
³¹ yet you will plunge me into filth,
    and my own clothes will abhor me.
³² For he is not a mortal, as I am, that I might answer him,
    that we should come to trial together.
³³ There is no umpire^[e] between us,
    who might lay his hand on us both.
³⁴ If he would take his rod away from me,
    and not let dread of him terrify me,
³⁵ then I would speak without fear of him,
    for I know I am not what I am thought to be.^[f]