Job 23:1-17

Then Job answered: “My complaint is still bitter today. I groan because God’s heavy hand is on me. I wish I knew where to find God so I could go to where he lives. I would present my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would learn how he would answer me and would think about what he would say. Would he not argue strongly against me? No, he would really listen to me. Then an honest person could present his case to God, and I would be saved forever by my judge. “If I go to the east, God is not there; if I go to the west, I do not see him. When he is at work in the north, I catch no sight of him; when he turns to the south, I cannot see him. But God knows the way that I take, and when he has tested me, I will come out like gold. My feet have closely followed his steps; I have stayed in his way; I did not turn aside. I have never left the commands he has spoken; I have treasured his words more than my own. “But he is the only God. Who can come against him? He does anything he wants. He will do to me what he said he would do, and he has many plans like this. That is why I am frightened of him; when I think of this, I am afraid of him. God has made me afraid; the Almighty terrifies me. But I am not hidden by the darkness, by the thick darkness that covers my face.