His children are far from safety, and they are crushed at the place where judgment is rendered, nor is there anyone to deliver them.

if you become pure and upright, even now he will rouse himself for you, and will restore your righteous abode.

Although I am innocent, I could not answer him; I could only plead with my judge for mercy.

Then would I speak and not fear him, but it is not so with me.

If I lift myself up, you hunt me as a fierce lion, and again you display your power against me.

He deprives the leaders of the earth of their understanding; he makes them wander in a trackless desert waste.

Then call, and I will answer, or I will speak, and you respond to me.

Do you wish to torment a windblown leaf and chase after dry chaff?

Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high.

and he contends with God on behalf of man as a man pleads for his friend.

Because you have closed their minds to understanding, therefore you will not exalt them.

“If I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I receive no answer; I cry for help, but there is no justice.

As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that as the last he will stand upon the earth.

If you say, ‘How we will pursue him, since the root of the trouble is found in him!’

When I hear a reproof that dishonors me, then my understanding prompts me to answer.

“For you took pledges from your brothers for no reason, and you stripped the clothing from the naked.

you sent widows away empty-handed, and the arms of the orphans you crushed.

There an upright person could present his case before him, and I would be delivered forever from my judge.

That is why I am terrified in his presence; when I consider, I am afraid because of him.

Job has not directed his words to me, and so I will not reply to him with your arguments.