Job, Chapter 23

1. Then Job answered and said,    2. Even to day [is] my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning.    3. Oh that I knew where I might find him! [that] I might come [even] to his seat!    4. I would order [my] cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.    5. I would know the words [which] he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me.    6. Will he plead against me with [his] great power? No; but he would put [strength] in me.    7. There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my judge.    8. Behold, I go forward, but he [is] not [there]; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:    9. 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]:    10. But he knoweth the way that I take: [when] he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.    11. My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.    12. Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary [food].    13. But he [is] in one [mind], and who can turn him? and [what] his soul desireth, even [that] he doeth.    14. For he performeth [the thing that is] appointed for me: and many such [things are] with him.    15. Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him.    16. For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me:    17. Because I was not cut off before the darkness, [neither] hath he covered the darkness from my face.