Parallel Bible results for "job 23"

Job 23

1 Then Job replied [to his friends],

1 Then Job answered and said:

2 "My complaint is bitter again today. I try hard to control my sighing.

2 "Even today my complaint is bitter; My hand is listless because of my groaning.

3 "If only I knew where I could find God! I would go where he lives.

3 Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, That I might come to His seat!

4 I would present [my] case to him. I would have a mouthful of arguments.

4 I would present my case before Him, And fill my mouth with arguments

5 I want to know the words he would use to answer me. I want to understand the things he would say to me.

5 I would know the words which He would answer me, And understand what He would say to me.

6 Would he sue me and hide behind great legal maneuvers? No, he certainly would press charges against me.

6 Would He contend with me in His great power? No! But He would take note of me.

7 Then decent people could argue with him, and I would escape my judgment forever.

7 There the upright could reason with Him, And I would be delivered forever from my Judge.

8 However, if I go east, he isn't there. If I go west, I can't find him.

8 "Look, I go forward, but He is not there, And backward, but I cannot perceive Him;

9 If I go northward, where he is at work, I can't observe him. If I turn southward, I can't see him.

9 When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him; When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him.

10 [I can't find him] because he knows the road I take. When he tests me, I'll come out as pure as gold.

10 But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.

11 I have followed his footsteps closely. I have stayed on his path and did not turn from it.

11 My foot has held fast to His steps; I have kept His way and not turned aside.

12 I have not left his commands behind. I have treasured his words in my heart.

12 I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth More than my necessary food.

13 "But God is one of a kind. Who can make him change his mind? He does whatever he wants!

13 "But He is unique, and who can make Him change? And whatever His soul desires, that He does.

14 He will carry out [his] orders concerning me as he does with so many other things.

14 For He performs what is appointed for me, And many such things are with Him

15 That is why I'm terrified of him. When I think of it, I'm afraid of him.

15 Therefore I am terrified at His presence; When I consider this, I am afraid of Him.

16 God has discouraged me. The Almighty has filled me with terror.

16 For God made my heart weak, And the Almighty terrifies me;

17 But I am not silenced by the dark or by the thick darkness that covers my face.

17 Because I was not cut off from the presence of darkness, And He did not hide deep darkness from my face.