Chapter 23

  And Job answereth and saith: -- 

  Also -- to-day [is] my complaint bitter, My hand hath been heavy because of my sighing. 

  O that I had known -- and I find Him, I come in unto His seat, 

  I arrange before Him the cause, And my mouth fill [with] arguments. 

  I know the words He doth answer me, And understand what He saith to me. 

  In the abundance of power doth He strive with me? No! surely He putteth [it] in me. 

  There the upright doth reason with Him, And I escape for ever from my judge. 

  Lo, forward I go -- and He is not, And backward -- and I perceive him not. 

  [To] the left in His working -- and I see not, He is covered [on] the right, and I behold not. 

  For He hath known the way with me, He hath tried me -- as gold I go forth. 

  On His step hath my foot laid hold, His way I have kept, and turn not aside, 

  The command of His lips, and I depart not. Above my allotted portion I have laid up The sayings of His mouth. 

  And He [is] in one [mind], And who doth turn Him back? And His soul hath desired -- and He doth [it]. 

  For He doth complete my portion, And many such things [are] with Him. 

  Therefore, from His presence I am troubled, I consider, and am afraid of Him. 

  And God hath made my heart soft, And the Mighty hath troubled me. 

  For I have not been cut off before darkness, And before me He covered thick darkness.