Oh, that I had one to hear me! (Here is my signature! let the Almighty answer me!) Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary!
Listen carefully to my words, and let my declaration be in your ears.
Why dost thou hide thy face, and count me as thy enemy?
But I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue my case with God.
“Lay down a pledge for me with thyself; who is there that will give surety for me?
He has kindled his wrath against me, and counts me as his adversary.
Behold, I cry out, ‘Violence!’ but I am not answered; I call aloud, but there is no justice.
“Let my enemy be as the wicked, and let him that rises up against me be as the unrighteous.
I cry to thee and thou dost not answer me; I stand, and thou dost not heed me.
“Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand, and in his disaster cry for help?
I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.
Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it on me as a crown;
Behold, I am toward God as you are; I too was formed from a piece of clay.
How much less when you say that you do not see him, that the case is before him, and you are waiting for him!
“Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it.”
Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.
Make friends quickly with your accuser, while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison;