Job 23

Then Job answered and said, Even to day {is} my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning. {stroke: Heb. hand} 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. {that...: Heb. that is with me} 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}. {esteemed: Heb. hid, or, laid up} {my...: or, my appointed portion} 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.