Aa
Job’s Reply to Eliphaz
1Then Job answered:
2Today also my complaint is bitter.23:2 Syr, Tg, Vg; MT reads rebellion23:2 Jb 7:11; 10:1; 21:4
His23:2 LXX, Syr; MT reads My hand is heavy despite my groaning.
3If only I knew how to find him,
so that I could go to his throne.
4I would plead my case before him23:4 Jb 5:8; 13:18; 35:14
and fill my mouth with arguments.
5I would learn how23:5 Lit the words he would answer me;
and understand what he would say to me.
6Would he prosecute23:6 Jb 13:19; 33:13; Is 45:9 me forcefully?
No, he would certainly pay attention to me.
7Then an upright man could reason23:7 Jb 13:3,15; 15:3 with him,
and I would escape from my Judge23:7 Or judgment23:7 Gn 18:25; Is 33:22; Jr 11:20 forever.

8If I go east, he is not there,
and if I go west, I cannot perceive him.23:8 Jb 9:11; 35:14
9When he is at work to the north, I cannot see him;
when he turns south, I cannot find him.
10Yet he knows the way I have taken;23:10 Lit way with me
when he has tested me,23:10 Ps 17:3; 66:10; 1Pt 1:7 I will emerge as pure gold.
11My feet have followed in his tracks;
I have kept to his way23:11 Jb 17:9; Ps 17:5; 44:18 and not turned aside.
12I have not departed from the commands from his lips;
I have treasured23:12 LXX, Vg read treasured in my bosom the words23:12 Jb 6:10; 22:22; Ps 119:102–103,111 from his mouth
more than my daily food.

13But he is unchangeable; who can oppose him?
He does what he desires.23:13 Ps 115:3; Is 14:27; Dn 4:35
14He will certainly accomplish what he has decreed for me,
and he has many more things like these in mind.23:14 Lit these with him
15Therefore I am terrified23:15 Jb 4:14; 22:10; 23:15 in his presence;
when I consider this, I am afraid of him.
16God has made my heart faint;23:16 Dt 20:3; Is 7:4; Jr 51:46
the Almighty has terrified me.
17Yet I am not destroyed23:17 Or silenced by the darkness,23:17 Jb 19:8; 29:3; 30:26
by the thick darkness that covers my face.