¹³"God will not turn back his anger;
beneath him bowed the helpers of Rahab.
¹⁴How then can I answer him,
choosing my words with him?
¹⁵Though I am innocent, I cannot answer him;
I must appeal for mercy to my accuser.
¹⁶If I summoned him and he answered me,
I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.
¹⁷For he crushes me with a tempest,
and multiplies my wounds without cause;
¹⁸he will not let me get my breath,
but fills me with bitterness.
¹⁹If it is a contest of strength, behold him!
If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?
²⁰Though I am innocent, my own mouth would condemn me;
though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
²¹I am blameless; I regard not myself;
I loathe my life.
²²It is all one; therefore I say,
he destroys both the blameless and the wicked.
²³When disaster brings sudden death,
he mocks at the calamity of the innocent.
²⁴The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;
he covers the faces of its judges - if it is not he, who then is it?

²⁵"My days are swifter than a runner;
they flee away, they see no good.
²⁶They go by like skiffs of reed,
like an eagle swooping on the prey.
²⁷If I say, 'I will forget my complaint,
I will put off my sad countenance, and be of good cheer,'
²⁸I become afraid of all my suffering,
for I know you will not hold me innocent.
²⁹I shall be condemned;
why then do I labour in vain?
³⁰If I wash myself with snow,
and cleanse my hands with lye,
³¹yet you will plunge me into a pit,
and my own clothes will abhor me.
³²For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him,
that we should come to trial together.
³³There is no umpire between us,
who might lay his hand upon us both.
³⁴Let him take his rod away from me,
and let not dread of him terrify me.
³⁵Then I would speak without fear of him,
for I am not so in myself.