1 Job replied, 2 “Just the same, my complaints today remain bitter. In spite of my groaning he is still punishing me. 3 If only I knew where I could find him so I could go to where he sits in judgment. 4 There I would lay out my case before him and present all my arguments in full. 5 I would discover how he would answer me and learn what he has to say to me. 6 Would he fight against me using his mighty power? No, he would pay attention to what I have to say. 7 There a good person could reason with him, and I would be acquitted forever by my judge. 8 If I go to the east, he's not there; if I go the west, I don't find him. 9 If he's working in the north, I don't perceive him; if he's moving south, I don't see him. 10 Yet he always knows where I'm going. When he has proved me, I will come out shining like gold. 11 I have kept in step with him; I have followed his way without turning aside. 12 I have not neglected his commands, for I value what he has told me to do more than the food I eat every day. 13 But God is unchangeable—who can turn him from his purposes? He does whatever he wants to do. 14 So he will finish whatever he has planned for me—and he has many plans for me. 15 That's why I'm terrified at meeting him; when I think of him I tremble with fear. 16 God has made me faint-hearted; the Almighty has scared me to death. 17 Yet I'm still here despite the dark—even though I can't see through the utter darkness.”
Job 23 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Cross references (16)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 2 Job 10:1; Job 7:11; Psalm 32:4; Job 6:2–3; Psalm 77:2–9
- 3 Job 16:21; Job 31:35–37; Hebrews 4:6; Jeremiah 14:7; Job 13:3
- 4 Job 13:18; Daniel 9:18–19; Job 37:19; Genesis 18:25–32; Joshua 7:8–9
- 5 1 Corinthians 4:3–4; Job 13:22–23; Job 10:2; Job 42:2–6
- 6 2 Corinthians 12:9–10; Job 13:21; Job 9:33–34; Ezekiel 20:35; Job 9:19
- 7 Job 13:3; Isaiah 1:18; Romans 8:1; Jeremiah 12:1; Jeremiah 3:5
- 8 Psalm 10:1; Job 9:11; Job 35:14; 1 Timothy 6:16; Psalm 13:1–3
- 9 Isaiah 8:17; Psalm 89:46
- 10 James 1:12; 1 Peter 1:7; James 1:2–4; Psalm 139:1–3; Zechariah 13:9
- 11 Psalm 44:18; 2 Peter 2:20–22; Psalm 17:5; Psalm 125:5; Romans 2:7
- 12 Jeremiah 15:16; Psalm 119:11; Psalm 119:103; John 4:34; Psalm 19:9–10
- 13 Psalm 115:3; Proverbs 19:21; Isaiah 46:10; Daniel 4:35; Job 12:14
- 14 1 Thessalonians 3:3; 1 Thessalonians 5:9; Psalm 97:2; Romans 11:33; Isaiah 40:27–28
- 15 Psalm 119:120; Job 31:23; Psalm 77:3; Job 10:15; Job 23:3
- 16 Psalm 22:14; Job 27:2; Isaiah 6:5; Psalm 88:16; Deuteronomy 20:3
- 17 Job 19:8; Isaiah 57:1; 2 Kings 22:20; Job 18:6; Job 22:11
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
Place there is none; we go both "backward" and "forward," and there is no place.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)