¹“Look, my eye has seen everything; my ear has heard and has understood it. ²⌞What you know⌟, I myself also know— I am not more inferior than you. ³But I would speak to Shaddai, and I desire to argue with God. ⁴“But you ⌞whitewash with lies⌟; all of you are ⌞worthless healers⌟. ⁵⌞O that⌟ you would keep completely silent, and that it would become wisdom for you. ⁶Please hear my argument, and listen attentively to the pleadings of my lips. ⁷“Will you speak falsely for God? And will you speak deceitfully for him? ⁸⌞Will you show partiality for him⌟? Or do you want to plead God’s case? ⁹Will it be well, if he examines you? Or can you deceive him like deceiving a human being? ¹⁰“Surely he will rebuke you if ⌞you show partiality⌟ in secret. ¹¹Will not his majesty terrify you, and his dread fall upon you? ¹²Your maxims are proverbs of ashes; your defenses are defenses of clay. ¹³“⌞Let me have silence⌟, and I myself will speak, and let come over me whatever may. ¹⁴Why should I take my flesh in my teeth and put my life in my hand? ¹⁵Look, though he kill me, I will hope in him; however, I will defend my ways ⌞before him⌟. ¹⁶Moreover, this is salvation to me, that the godless would not come ⌞before him⌟. ¹⁷“Listen carefully to my words, and let my exposition be in your ears. ¹⁸Please look, I have prepared my case; I know that I myself will be vindicated. ¹⁹Who is he who will contend with me? For ⌞then⌟ I would be silent, and I would pass away. ²⁰“Only you must not do these two things to me; then I will not hide from your face: ²¹withdraw your hand from me, and let not your dread terrify me. ²²Then call, and I myself will answer; or let me speak, then reply to me. ²³“⌞How many⌟ are my iniquities and sins? Make known to me my transgression and my sin. ²⁴Why do you hide your face and count me as your enemy? ²⁵Will you terrify a blown leaf? And will you pursue dry stubble? ²⁶“Indeed, you write bitter things against me, and you make me reap the iniquities of my childhood. ²⁷And you put my feet in the block, and you watch all my paths; you carve a mark on the soles of my feet. ²⁸And he himselfwastes away like something rotten, like a garment that the moth has eaten.