1 Then 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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

12 I 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!

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

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

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

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