# Chapter 23
1 Then Job answered:
2 Today also my complaint is bitter.
His hand is heavy despite my groaning.
3 If only I knew how to find him,
so that I could go to his throne.
4 I would plead my case before him
and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would learn how he would answer me;
and understand what he would say to me.
6 Would he prosecute me forcefully?
No, he would certainly pay attention to me.
7 Then an upright man could reason with him,
and I would escape from my Judge forever.
8 If I go east, he is not there,
and if I go west, I cannot perceive him.
9 When he is at work to the north, I cannot see him;
when he turns south, I cannot find him.
10 Yet he knows the way I have taken;
when he has tested me, I will emerge as pure gold.
11 My feet have followed in his tracks;
I have kept to his way and not turned aside.
12 I have not departed from the commands from his lips;
I have treasured the words from his mouth
more than my daily food.
13 But he is unchangeable; who can oppose him?
He does what he desires.
14 He will certainly accomplish what he has decreed for me,
and he has many more things like these in mind.
15 Therefore I am terrified in his presence;
when I consider this, I am afraid of him.
16 God has made my heart faint;
the Almighty has terrified me.
17 Yet I am not destroyed by the darkness,
by the thick darkness that covers my face.