Job 23 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

Then Job answered:

Even today my complaint comes out bitter. The hand on me is heavy, and all my groaning does nothing to lift it.

If only I knew where to find him — I would go straight to the place where he sits.

I would lay my case out in front of him and fill my mouth with arguments.

I would learn the words he answers with. I would understand what he has to say to me.

Would he come at me with all that power? No. He would give me his attention.

There an honest man could argue it out with him, and I would walk free from my judge for good.

But I go east and he is not there. I go west and I cannot make him out.

I turn north, where he is at work, and I cannot get hold of him. He wraps himself in the south, and I see nothing.

But he knows the road I am on. Put me through the fire and I will come out gold.

My foot has held to his tracks. I have kept to his road and never turned off it.

The order his lips gave — I have not left it behind. I have stored up the words of his mouth, valued them over my daily bread.

But he is one, alone, and who can turn him back? Whatever he wants, he does.

He will finish out the portion he measured for me, and he has plenty more like it in reserve.

That is why I fall apart in front of him. The longer I think about it, the more afraid of him I am.

God has made my heart go weak. The Almighty has left me shaking.

And still the darkness has not shut me up, not even the thick dark that covers my face.