"Can anyone be righteous in the sight of God or be pure before his Creator?

Will you even look at me, God, or put me on trial and judge me?

Nothing clean can ever come from anything as unclean as human beings.

Can anyone be righteous or pure in God's sight?

But a bystander named Elihu could not control his anger any longer, because Job was justifying himself and blaming God. (Elihu was the son of Barakel, a descendant of Buz, and belonged to the clan of Ram.)

"I am not guilty; I have done nothing wrong. I am innocent and free from sin.

Job claims that he is innocent, that God refuses to give him justice.

"When your people sin against you---and there is no one who does not sin---and in your anger you let their enemies defeat them and take them as prisoners to some other land, even if that land is far away,

If you kept a record of our sins, who could escape being condemned?

Don't put me, your servant, on trial; no one is innocent in your sight.

For no one is put right in God's sight by doing what the Law requires; what the Law does is to make us know that we have sinned.