For if he would enter into judgment with Him, [God] would not listen to him, so that he should answer to one of His charges of a thousand.

But you say, Why has He not heard every word of my cause?

If anything has been, its name has already been called. And it is known what man is; neither can he contend with him who is stronger than he.

What excellent thing have I prepared as clay of the potter? Will the plowman plow the earth all day? Shall the clay say to the potter, What are you doing that you do not work, nor have hands? Shall the thing formed answer Him that formed it?

For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, who has formed the things that are to come, Inquire of Me concerning My sons, and concerning the works of My hands, ask of Me.

for He that has justified me draws near. Who is he that pleads with me? Let him stand up against me at the same time; yea, who is he that pleads with me? Let him draw near to me.

Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?

Or with whom has He taken counsel, and he has instructed Him? Or who has taught Him judgment, or who has taught Him the way of understanding;

For "Who has known the mind of the LORD, that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

For why did I not die in the belly? And why did I not come forth from the womb and die immediately?

And why did the knees support me? And [why] did I suck the breasts?

For why is light given to those who are in bitterness, and life to those souls which are in grief?

Death is rest to such a man, for God has hedged him in.

Am I a sea, or a serpent, that you have set a watch over me?

How long do You not let me alone, nor let me go, until I shall swallow down my spittle?

Why have You not forgotten my iniquity, and purged my sin? But now I shall depart to the earth, and in the morning I am no more.

Let Him not crush me with a dark storm: but He has made my bruises many without cause.

For He allows me not to take breath, but He has filled me with bitterness.

For You are not a man like me, with whom I could contend, that we might come together to judgment.

Let Him remove His rod from me, and let not His fear terrify me.

Is it good before You if I am unrighteous? For You have disowned the work of Your hands, and attended to the counsel of the ungodly.

Or is Your life human, or Your years [the years] of a man,

For You know that I have not committed iniquity, but who is he that can deliver out of Your hands?

And if I should sin, You watch me, and You have not cleared me from iniquity.

For I am hunted like a lion for slaughter; for again You have changed and are terribly destroying me;

Withhold [Your] hand from me, and let not Your fear terrify me.

How many are my sins and my transgressions? Teach me what they are.

Will You be startled [at me], as [at] a leaf shaken by the wind? Or will You set Yourself against me as against grass borne upon the breeze?

And You have placed my foot in the stocks, and You have watched all my works, and have penetrated my heels.

But You have numbered my devices: and not one of my sins shall escape You.

And You have sealed up my transgressions in a bag, and marked if I have been guilty of any transgression unawares.

[ 16:12] For the Lord has delivered me into the hands of unrighteous men, and thrown me upon the ungodly.

[ 16:14] They surrounded me with spears, aiming at my reins: without sparing me they poured out my gall upon the ground.

[ 16:16] They sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and my strength has been spent on the ground.

[ 16:18] Yet there was no injustice on my hands, and my prayer is pure.

[ 16:20] And now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my Advocate is on high.

[ 16:22] Oh that a man might plead before the Lord, even as the son of man with his neighbor!

Know then that it is the Lord that has troubled [me], and has raised His bulwark against me.

I am fenced round about, and can by no means escape: He has set darkness before my face.

He has torn me round about, and I am gone, and He has cut off my hope like a tree.

As God lives, who has thus judged me; and the Almighty, who has embittered my soul;

They attacked me also without mercy: You have scourged me with a strong hand.

Son of man, what do you mean by this parable among the children of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth have been set on edge?

And when they had received it, they began grumbling against the landowner,

You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who has [ever] resisted His will?"

Or does not the potter have authority over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and the other for dishonor?

and so that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory,

"For who has known [the] mind of the LORD? Or who has been His counselor?"

For of Him and through Him and to Him [are] all things; to Him be the glory forever! Amen.