14How then can I answer him,
choosing my words with him?15Though I am innocent, I cannot answer him;
I must appeal for mercy to my accuser.16If I summoned him and he answered me,
I do not believe that he would listen to my voice.17For he crushes me with a tempest,
and multiplies my wounds without cause;18he will not let me get my breath,
but fills me with bitterness.19If it is a contest of strength, he is the strong one!
If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?20Though I am innocent, my own mouth would condemn me;
though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.21I am blameless; I do not know myself;
I loathe my life.22It is all one; therefore I say,
he destroys both the blameless and the wicked.23When disaster brings sudden death,
he mocks at the calamity of the innocent.24The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;
he covers the eyes of its judges—
if it is not he, who then is it?