16. If I called and He answered me, yet would I not believe that He listened to my voice.
17. For He overwhelms and breaks me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause.
18. He will not allow me to catch my breath, but fills me with bitterness.
19. If I speak of strength, behold, He is mighty! And if of justice, Who, says He, will summon Me?
20. Though I am innocent and in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, He would prove me perverse.
21. Though I am blameless, I regard not myself; I despise my life.
22. It is all one; therefore I say, God [does not discriminate, but] destroys the blameless and the wicked.
23. When [His] scourge slays suddenly, He mocks at the calamity and trial of the innocent.
24. The earth is given into the hands of the wicked; He covers the faces of its judges [so that they are blinded to justice]. If it is not [God], who then is it [responsible for all this inequality]?
25. Now my days are swifter than a runner; they flee away, they see no good.
26. They are passed away like the swift rowboats made of reeds, or like the eagle that swoops down on the prey.
27. If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad countenance, and be of good cheer and brighten up,
28. I become afraid of all my pains and sorrows [yet to come], for I know You will not pronounce me innocent [by removing them].
29. I shall be held guilty and be condemned; why then should I labor in vain [to appear innocent]?
30. If I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye,
31. Yet You will plunge me into the ditch, and my own clothes will abhor me [and refuse to cover so foul a body].
32. For [God] is not a [mere] man, as I am, that I should answer Him, that we should come together in court.
33. There is no umpire between us, who might lay his hand upon us both, [would that there were!] [I Tim. 2:5.]
34. That He might take His rod away from [threatening] me, and that the fear of Him might not terrify me.