"[If] someone would test a word with you, would you be offended? But who can refrain from speaking?

'Can a human being be more righteous than God, or can a man be more pure than his Maker?

Can tasteless [food] be eaten without salt, or is there taste in the white of a marshmallow plant?

Teach me, and I myself will be silent; and make me understand how I have gone astray.

Is there injustice on my tongue? Or can my palate not discern calamity?

The eye of [the one] seeing me will not see me; your eyes [are] upon me, but {I will be gone}.

Can papyrus grow tall where [there is] not a marsh? Will reeds flourish without water?

"Truly I know that [it is] so, but how can a human being be just before God?

{How much less} can I myself answer him? [How] can I choose my words with him,

If {it is a matter of} strength, look, [he is] mighty. But if {it is a matter of} justice, who can summon me?

"For [he is] not a mortal like me [that] I can answer him, [that] {we can come to trial together}.

"Can you find [out] the essence of God, or can you find [out] {the ultimate limits} of Shaddai?

{It is higher than the heaven}; what can you do? [It is] deeper than Sheol; what can you know?

"If he passes through and imprisons someone {and summons the assembly}, then who can hinder him?

[Will it be] well, if he examines you? Or can you deceive him like deceiving a human being?

"Who can bring a clean [thing] from an unclean [thing]? No one!

"What [is] a human being, that he can be clean, or that [one] born of a woman can be righteous?

He has broken me down all around, and I am gone. And he has uprooted my hope like a tree,

Bear [with] me, and I myself will speak; then after my speaking you can mock.

Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since he himself judges high ones?

"Can a man be of use to God? Yes, can [the] wise be of use to him?

[Is] it a pleasure to Shaddai if you are righteous, or a gain if you make your ways blameless?

And you ask, 'What does God know? Can he judge through deep gloom?

[Those] who said to God, 'Turn away from us,' and 'What can Shaddai do to us?'

"But he [is] {alone}, and who can dissuade him? And {whatever he desires}, {indeed}, he does [it].

They are exalted a little while, then {they are gone}. And they are brought low; they are cut off like all [others], and like [the] heads of grain they wither away.

"And if [it is] not [so], then who can prove me a liar and reduce my word to nothing?"

"Indeed, how can a human being be righteous before God? And how will he who is born of a woman be pure?

Look, these [are] the outer fringes of his ways, and {how faint is the word} [that] we hear of him! But who can understand the thunder of his power?"

He goes to bed [with] wealth, but {he will do so no more}; he opens his eyes, and {it is gone}.

[The] east wind lifts him up, and he is gone, and it sweeps him away from his place.

but he remains quiet, and who can condemn? And he hides [his] face, and who can behold him? Yet [he is] over a nation and over a person alike,

"Moreover, {can anyone understand} [the] spreading of clouds, [the] thundering of his dwelling place?

with him can you spread out [the] skies, hard as a molten mirror?

"Can you bind [the] chains of [the] Pleiades, or can you loosen [the] cords of Orion?

Can you lead forth the southern constellations at their appointed time, or can you lead [the] Bear with its children?

Do you know heaven's statutes, or can you establish their rule on the earth?

Can you lift up your voice to the clouds so that a flood of water may cover you?

Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go? And will they say to you, 'Here we are'?

Who can number [the] clouds with wisdom? Or who can tilt heaven's jars,

"Can you hunt prey for [the] lion? And can you satisfy [the] hunger of strong lions

Can you number [the] months they fulfill, and do you know [the] time of its giving birth?

Can you tie [the] wild ox [with] its rope to a furrow, or will it harrow [the] valleys after you?

Can you trust it because its strength [is] great, or will you hand your labor over to it?

Can you rely on it that it will return your grain and [that] it will gather [it] to your threshing floor?

Or do you have an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his?

And I will also praise you, that your [own] right hand can save you.

Can anyone take it by its eyes? Can he pierce [its] nose with a snare?

"Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook? Or {can you tie down its mouth with a cord}?

Can you put a rope in its nose? Or can you pierce its jawbone with a hook?

Can you fill its kin with harpoons or its head with fish spears?

Who can strip off {its outer covering}? Who can penetrate its double harness?

Who can open [the] doors of its face? Its teeth all around [are] fearsome.

"I know that you can do all [things], and [any] scheme from you will not be thwarted.