The Holy Bible – Knox Translation
The Book of Job
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Chapter 23
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But Job answered:
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And still I repine bitterly as ever, no groaning too heavy for the wounds I bear.
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Ah, if I could but find my way to God, reach his very throne,
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in reproachful accents plead my suit before him,
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and learn what he would say in his defence, grasp the meaning of it!
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Will he match his strength with mine, use all his majestic power to crush me?
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The justice of my cause once made known to him, I should triumph at last.
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But no; travel I east or west, I find no trace of him,
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turn I north or south, I have no skill to catch sight of him.
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And he, all the while, keeps watch over my doings, tests me like gold the fire assays;
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he knows how close I have kept to the path he traced for me, swerving never aside,
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true to every command of his, every utterance of his cherished in my heart.
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But what of that? He reigns without a rival, none can cross his purposes; he does what likes him best.
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His will once fully accomplished in me, he has many another like purpose to fulfil.
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What wonder if I am all adread in his presence, if the thought of him racks me with terror?
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It is God that melts my heart with fear, his omnipotence that daunts me;
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that thought unmans me, not the surrounding darkness, not the mists which hide my view.✻
