Chapter 23

But Job answered:

And still I repine bitterly as ever, no groaning too heavy for the wounds I bear.

Ah, if I could but find my way to God, reach his very throne,

in reproachful accents plead my suit before him,

and learn what he would say in his defence, grasp the meaning of it!

Will he match his strength with mine, use all his majestic power to crush me?

The justice of my cause once made known to him, I should triumph at last.

But no; travel I east or west, I find no trace of him,

turn I north or south, I have no skill to catch sight of him.

And he, all the while, keeps watch over my doings, tests me like gold the fire assays;

he knows how close I have kept to the path he traced for me, swerving never aside,

true to every command of his, every utterance of his cherished in my heart.

But what of that? He reigns without a rival, none can cross his purposes; he does what likes him best.

His will once fully accomplished in me, he has many another like purpose to fulfil.

What wonder if I am all adread in his presence, if the thought of him racks me with terror?

It is God that melts my heart with fear, his omnipotence that daunts me;

that thought unmans me, not the surrounding darkness, not the mists which hide my view.