1Then Job replied [to his friends],

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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