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<2> "Of course, I know that is true.
But how can a human being
win an argument with God?
<3> If someone chose to argue with him,
they couldn't answer one question in a thousand!
<4> God is so wise and powerful
no one could oppose him and survive.
<5> When God is angry, he moves mountains
before they know what happened.
<6> He can shake the earth,
and it will tremble down to its foundations.
<7> With one command,
he can stop the sun from rising.
He can lock up the stars,
and they will not come out.
<8> He alone made the skies,
and he walks on the ocean waves.
<9> "God made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades.[25]
He made the planets that cross the southern sky.[26]
<10> He does things too marvelous for people to understand.
He does too many miracles to count!
<11> When he goes past me, I cannot see him.
When he goes by, I don't notice him.
<12> If he takes something away,
no one can stop him.
No one can say to him,
'What are you doing?'
<13> God will not hold his anger back.
Even Rahab's[27] helpers are afraid of God.
<14> So I cannot argue with God.
I wouldn't know what to say to him.
<15> I am innocent,
but I cannot give him an answer.
All I can do is beg my Judge for mercy.
<16> Even if I called and he answered,
I still wouldn't believe that he really would listen to me.
<17> He would just send storms to crush me.
He would just give me more wounds for no reason.
<18> He wouldn't let me catch my breath again.
He would just give me more trouble.
<19> I cannot defeat God.
He is too powerful!
I cannot take him to court
and force him to be fair to me.
Who could force God to come to court?
<20> I am innocent,
but anything I say makes me seem guilty.
I am innocent,
but if I speak, my mouth proves me guilty.
<21> I am innocent,
but I don't know what to think.
I hate my own life.
<22> I say to myself,
'The same thing happens to everyone.
Innocent people die just as the guilty.
God ends all their lives.'
<23> Does God just laugh
when some disaster kills innocent people?
<24> Is it God who keeps the leaders from seeing
when some evil person takes control?
If it is not him, who is it?
<25> "My days are passing faster than a runner.
They are flying by without happiness.
<26> They go by as quickly as papyrus[28] boats,
as fast as an eagle swooping down on its prey.
<27> "If I say, 'I will not complain,
I will forget my pain,
I will put a smile on my face,'
<28> the suffering still scares me,
and I know I cannot win.
<29> I would lose any argument with God,
so why should I even think about it.
I would be found guilty.
<30> Even if I scrubbed my hands with soap
and washed myself whiter than snow,
<31> God would still push me into the slime pit,[29]
so even my clothes would hate to touch me.
<32> God is not a human like me,
so if we met together in court,
I couldn't answer him
as I would another man.
<33> I wish there were someone
to listen to both sides.[30]
I wish there were someone
to judge both of us in a fair way.
<34> I wish there were someone to take away
the rod that God uses to punish me.
Then he would not scare me any more.
<35> Then I could say what I wanted to say
without being afraid of him.
But I cannot do that now.
© Copyright 2004 World Bible Translation Center.