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Job Replies: Where Is God?

 Then Job answered and said:

² “Today also my complaint is bitter;^[a]
my hand is heavy on account of my groaning.
³ Oh, that I knew where I might find him,
that I might come even to his seat!
⁴ I would lay my case before him
and fill my mouth with arguments.
⁵ I would know what he would answer me
and understand what he would say to me.
⁶ Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?
No; he would pay attention to me.
⁷ There an upright man could argue with him,
and I would be acquitted forever by my judge.

⁸ “Behold, I go forward, but he is not there,
and backward, but I do not perceive him;
⁹ on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him;
he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.
¹⁰ But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.
¹¹ My foot has held fast to his steps;
I have kept his way and have not turned aside.
¹² I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;
I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.
¹³ But he is unchangeable,^[b] and who can turn him back?
What he desires, that he does.
¹⁴ For he will complete what he appoints for me,
and many such things are in his mind.
¹⁵ Therefore I am terrified at his presence;
when I consider, I am in dread of him.
¹⁶ God has made my heart faint;
the Almighty has terrified me;
¹⁷ yet I am not silenced because of the darkness,
nor because thick darkness covers my face.

Footnotes:

1. Job 23:2 Or defiant
2. Job 23:13 Or one

Cross references:

1. Job 23:2 : ch. 10:1; 21:4
2. Job 23:2 : [Ps. 32:4]
3. Job 23:3 : [ch. 13:3; 16:21]
4. Job 23:3 : [Ps. 9:7, 8; Isa. 57:15, 16]
5. Job 23:4 : See ch. 33:5
6. Job 23:6 : [ch. 9:34; 13:21]
7. Job 23:8 : ch. 9:11; 35:14
8. Job 23:10 : Ps. 139:1-3
9. Job 23:10 : Ps. 139:24
10. Job 23:10 : [ch. 9:35]
11. Job 23:10 : Ps. 17:3; 26:2; 66:10; 139:23; Zech. 13:9; Mal. 3:3; 1 Pet. 1:7; Rev. 3:18; [James 1:12]
12. Job 23:11 : Ps. 17:5; 44:18
13. Job 23:11 : Ps. 125:5
14. Job 23:12 : [Ps. 119:11]
15. Job 23:12 : [Ps. 119:103; John 4:32, 34]
16. Job 23:13 : [ch. 9:12; 12:14]
17. Job 23:13 : Ps. 115:3
18. Job 23:14 : [1 Thess. 3:3]
19. Job 23:14 : [ch. 10:13; 27:11]
20. Job 23:16 : Deut. 20:3; [Ps. 22:14]