Chapter 23

  Then Job answered and said, 

  Even to day [is] my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning. 

  Oh that I knew where I might find him! [that] I might come [even] to his seat! 

  I would order [my] cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. 

  I would know the words [which] he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me. 

  Will he plead against me with [his] great power? No; but he would put [strength] in me. 

  There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my judge. 

  Behold, I go forward, but he [is] not [there]; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: 

  On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold [him]: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see [him]: 

  But he knoweth the way that I take: [when] he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. 

  My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined. 

  Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary [food]. 

  But he [is] in one [mind], and who can turn him? and [what] his soul desireth, even [that] he doeth. 

  For he performeth [the thing that is] appointed for me: and many such [things are] with him. 

  Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him. 

  For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me: 

  Because I was not cut off before the darkness, [neither] hath he covered the darkness from my face.