Page:JPS-1917-Universal.djvu/954

---

¹²Behold, He snatcheth away, who can hinder Him?

Who will say unto Him: 'What doest Thou?'

¹³God will not withdraw His anger;

The helpers of Rahab did stoop under Him.

 

¹⁴How much less shall I answer Him,

And choose out my arguments with Him?

¹⁵Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer;

I would make supplication to Him that contendeth with me.

¹⁶If I had called, and He had answered me;

Yet would I not believe that He would hearken unto my voice—

¹⁷He that would break me with a tempest,

And multiply my wounds without cause;

¹⁸That would not suffer me to take my breath,

But fill me with bitterness.

¹⁹If it be a matter of strength, lo, He is mighty!

And if of justice, who will appoint me a time

²⁰Though I be righteous, mine own mouth shall condemn me;

Though I be innocent, He shall prove me perverse.

²¹I am innocent—I regard not myself,

I despise my life.

²²It is all one—therefore I say:

He destroyeth the innocent and the wicked.

²³If the scourge slay suddenly,

He will mock at the calamity of the guiltless.

²⁴The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;

He covereth the faces of the judges thereof;

If it be not He, who then is it?

²⁵Now my days are swifter than a runner;

They flee away, they see no good.

²⁶They are passed away as the swift ships;

As the vulture that swoopeth on the prey.

²⁷If I say: 'I will forget my complaint,

I will put off my sad countenance, and be of good cheer',

²⁸I am afraid of all my pains,

I know that Thou wilt not hold me guiltless.

²⁹I shall be condemned;

Why then do I labour in vain?

³⁰If I wash myself with snow water,

And make my hands never so clean;

³¹Yet wilt Thou plunge me in the ditch,

And mine own clothes shall abhor me.

³²For He is not a man, as I am, that I should answer Him,

That we should come together in judgment.

³³There is no arbiter betwixt us,

That might lay his hand upon us both.

³⁴Let Him take His rod away from me,

And let not His terror make me afraid;

³⁵Then would I speak, and not fear Him;

For I am not so with myself.

 

10 My soul is weary of my life;

I will give free course to my complaint;

I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

²I will say unto God: Do not condemn me;

Make me know wherefore Thou contendest with me.

932