Job 23
Literal Standard Version
Chapter overview
Job wishes he knew where to find God so that he could lay his case before him and hear the reply, confident that he would be acquitted rather than crushed. But God is not to be found forward or backward, left or right, and Job says he has kept to that path while remaining terrified of the one who set it.
Divine hiddennessIntegrityTestingLonging
1And Job answers and says:
2“Also—today my complaint [is] bitter, || My hand has been heavy because of my sighing.
3O that I had known—and I find Him, || I come to His seat,
4I arrange the cause before Him, || And fill my mouth [with] arguments.
5I know the words He answers me, || And understand what He says to me.
6Does He strive with me in the abundance of power? No! Surely He puts [it] in me.
7There the upright reason with Him, || And I escape from mine who is judging—forever.
8Behold, I go forward—and He is not, || And backward—and I do not perceive Him.
9[To] the left in His working—and I do not see, || He is covered [on] the right, and I do not behold.
10For He has known the way with me, || He has tried me—I go forth as gold.
11My foot has laid hold on His step, || I have kept His way, and do not turn aside,
12The command of His lips, and I do not depart. I have laid up above my allotted portion || The sayings of His mouth.
13And He [is] in one [mind], || And who turns Him back? And His soul has desired—and He does [it].
14For He completes my portion, || And many such things [are] with Him.
15Therefore, I am troubled at His presence, I consider, and am afraid of Him.
16And God has made my heart soft, || And the Mighty has troubled me.
17For I have not been cut off before darkness, || And before me He covered thick darkness.”
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