Job Points Out that God Holds All the Cards

Then Job said,

“All you say is true,
But how can we humans
Be just with God?

“In an argument, our chances
Aren’t one in a thousand.
God is wise in heart,
And mighty in strength.
Who has resisted God
And found prosperity?

“God removes mountains
At a whim;
God overturns them
In a fit of anger.
God shakes the earth out of place.
The very pillars tremble.
God commands the sun,
And it doesn’t even rise
God seals the light of stars.
God alone spreads the heavens
And walks on the waves of the sea.
God made the Bear, Orion, the Pleiades,
And the chambers of the south.
God does incomprehensible things,
Wonders without number.

“Consider: God goes by me,
And I don’t see a thing.
God keeps going,
But I am none the wiser.
Who can stop God?
Who will say,
‘What do you think you’re doing?’

“When God is angry
Chaos itself bows down.

“So, consider: How might I answer God?
What words might I choose to make an argument?
Even if I am innocent,
With a judge like that,
All I can do is beg.
Even were I to call,
And even if I got an answer,
How might I know that?

“God breaks me in a storm,
Then keeps stabbing for no reason.
God won’t even allow me a breath
But fills me to choking with bitterness.

“If I talk about strength,
God is what I’m talking about;
If I talk about judgment,
Who makes the court date?
Were I to try justifying myself,
My own mouth would answer,
Condemning me. If I say
That I am perfect, my mouth
Answers that I am perverse.

“Even if I were perfect,
How might I know my soul?
Look—God destroys both
The perfect and the wicked.
Yes, the wicked pay for crimes,
But trials for the innocent end no better.
The earth is in the hands of the wicked,
Yet God turns a blind eye—
If that’s not true, tell me how I’m wrong!

“My days are faster than a sprinter,
And they see no good.
My days pass like a swift ship,
Like an eagle swooping on its prey.
Were I to decide to forget my complaining;
Were I to decide to leave depression,
Seeking only comfort, still—would I be forgiven?
If I am wicked, why bother trying?
If I wash myself with snow water,
And make my hands never so clean—
Still yet God will throw me in a ditch
And my own clothes
Will find me disgusting.

“God is not human
As I am human.
God will not answer me.
We will not reason together.
There is no intermediary
That might listen to us both.

“If God would take the whip away;
If God would stop terrifying me,
Then I might be able to speak
Without abject fear, but
That is not how it is in my case.”