Job

1-2I still rebel and complain against God;

I can't hold back my groaning.

3How I wish I knew where to find him,

and knew how to go where he is.

4I would state my case before him

and present all the arguments in my favour.

5I want to know what he would say

and how he would answer me.

6Would God use all his strength against me?

No, he would listen as I spoke.

7I am honest; I could reason with God;

he would declare me innocent23.7 he would declare me innocent; or then my rights would be safe. once and for all.

8I have searched in the east, but God is not there;

I have not found him when I searched in the west.

9God has been at work in the north and the south,

but still I have not seen him.

10Yet God knows every step I take;

if he tests me, he will find me pure.

11I follow faithfully the road he chooses,

and never wander to either side.

12I always do what God commands;

I follow his will, not my own desires.

13He never changes. No one can oppose him

or stop him from doing what he wants to do.

14He will fulfil what he has planned for me;

that plan is just one of the many he has;

15I tremble with fear before him.

16-17Almighty God has destroyed my courage.

It is God, not the dark, that makes me afraid —

even though the darkness has made me blind.