Job 23

Job's Response: A Declaration of His Desire to Present His Case Before God and His Confidence in His Integrity

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Then Job answered and said,

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Even to day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning.

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Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!

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I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.

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I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say to me.

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Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me.

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There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my judge.

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Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:

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On the left hand, where he does work, but I cannot behold him: he hides himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him:

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But he knows the way that I take: when he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

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My foot has held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.

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Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

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But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desires, even that he does.

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For he performs the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.

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Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him.

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For God makes my heart soft, and the Almighty troubles me:

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Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither has he covered the darkness from my face.