29“I am accounted wicked,
         Why then should I toil in vain?

30“If I should wash myself with snow
         And cleanse my hands with lye,

31Yet You would plunge me into the pit,
         And my own clothes would abhor me.

32“For He is not a man as I am that I may answer Him,
         That we may go to court together.

33“There is no umpire between us,
         Who may lay his hand upon us both.

34“Let Him remove His rod from me,
         And let not dread of Him terrify me.

35“Then I would speak and not fear Him;
         But I am not like that in myself.

NASB ©1995