Job 9:16-35

16If I summoned him and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.

17For he crushes me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause;

18he will not let me get my breath, but fills me with bitterness.

19If it is a contest of strength, behold, he is mighty! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?

20Though I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.

21I am blameless; I regard not myself; I loathe my life.

22It is all one; therefore I say, 'He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.'

23When disaster brings sudden death, he mocks at the calamity of the innocent.

24The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he covers the faces of its judges— if it is not he, who then is it?

25"My days are swifter than a runner; they flee away; they see no good.

26They go by like skiffs of reed, like an eagle swooping on the prey.

27If I say, 'I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face, and be of good cheer,'

28I become afraid of all my suffering, for I know you will not hold me innocent.

29I shall be condemned; why then do I labor in vain?

30If I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye,

31yet you will plunge me into a pit, and my own clothes will abhor me.

32For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together.

33There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both.

34Let him take his rod away from me, and let not dread of him terrify me.

35Then I would speak without fear of him, for I am not so in myself.