Job 9
1 Then Job answered,
Job replied,
2 “Truly I know that it is so, but how can man be just with God?
“Yes, I know all that! But how can anyone be right before God?
3 If he is pleased to contend with him, he can’t answer him one time in a thousand.
If you wanted to argue with God, God could ask a thousand questions that no-one could answer.
4 God is wise in heart, and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against him and prospered?
God is so wise and so powerful that no-one could challenge him and win.
5 He removes the mountains, and they don’t know it, when he overturns them in his anger.
God moves the mountains suddenly; he overturns them in his anger.
6 He shakes the earth out of its place. Its pillars tremble.
He shakes the earth, making its foundations quake.
7 He commands the sun and it doesn’t rise, and seals up the stars.
He is the one who can command the sun not to rise and the stars not to shine.
8 He alone stretches out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea.
He alone is the one who stretches out the heavens and walks on the waves of the sea.
9 He makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the rooms of the south.
He made the constellations of the Bear, Orion, the Pleiades, and the stars of the southern sky.
10 He does great things past finding out; yes, marvelous things without number.
He is the one who does incredible things that are beyond our understanding, marvelous things that are uncountable.
11 Behold, he goes by me, and I don’t see him. He passes on also, but I don’t perceive him.
But when he passes by me, I don't see him; when he moves on, he is invisible to me.
12 Behold, he snatches away. Who can hinder him? Who will ask him, ‘What are you doing?’
If he takes away, who can prevent him? Who is going to ask him, ‘What are you doing?’
13 “God will not withdraw his anger. The helpers of Rahab stoop under him.
God does not restrain his anger; he crushes Rahab's helpers underfoot.
14 How much less will I answer him, and choose my words to argue with him?
So how much less could I answer God, or choose my words to argue with him!
15 Though I were righteous, yet I wouldn’t answer him. I would make supplication to my judge.
Even though I'm right, I can't answer him. I must plead for mercy from my judge.
16 If I had called, and he had answered me, yet I wouldn’t believe that he listened to my voice.
Even if I called him to come and he responded, I don't believe he would listen to me.
17 For he breaks me with a storm, and multiplies my wounds without cause.
He pounds me with the winds of a storm; he wounds me time and again, without giving a reason.
18 He will not allow me to catch my breath, but fills me with bitterness.
He doesn't give me a chance even to catch my breath; instead he fills my life with bitter suffering.
19 If it is a matter of strength, behold, he is mighty! If of justice, ‘Who,’ says he, ‘will summon me?’
If it's a question of strength, then God is the strongest. If it's a question of justice, then who will set a time for my case?
20 Though I am righteous, my own mouth will condemn me. Though I am blameless, it will prove me perverse.
Even though I am right, my own mouth would condemn me; even though I am innocent, he would prove me wrong.
21 I am blameless. I don’t respect myself. I despise my life.
I am innocent! I don't care what happens to me. I hate my life!
22 “It is all the same. Therefore I say he destroys the blameless and the wicked.
That's why I say, ‘It makes no difference to God. He destroys both the innocent and the wicked.’
23 If the scourge kills suddenly, he will mock at the trial of the innocent.
When disaster strikes suddenly he mocks the despair of the innocent.
24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If not he, then who is it?
The earth has been handed over to the wicked; he blinds the eyes of the judges—if it's not him who does this, then who is it?
25 “Now my days are swifter than a runner. They flee away. They see no good.
The days of my life race by like a runner, rushing past without me seeing any happiness.
26 They have passed away as the swift ships, as the eagle that swoops on the prey.
They pass by like fast sailing ships, like an eagle swooping down on its prey.
27 If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face, and cheer up,’
If I said to myself, ‘I will forget my complaints; I will stop crying and be happy,’
28 I am afraid of all my sorrows. I know that you will not hold me innocent.
I would still be terrified at all my suffering because you, God, will not say I'm innocent.
29 I will be condemned. Why then do I labor in vain?
Since I'm condemned, what's the point in arguing?
30 If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with lye,
Even if I wash myself with pure mountain water and clean my hands with soap,
31 yet you will plunge me in the ditch. My own clothes will abhor me.
you would toss me into a slime pit so that even my own clothes would hate me!
32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, that we should come together in judgment.
For God is not a mortal being like me, I can't defend myself or take him to court.
33 There is no umpire between us, that might lay his hand on us both.
If only there was an arbitrator who could bring us both together!
34 Let him take his rod away from me. Let his terror not make me afraid;
I wish God would stop beating me with his rod and terrifying me!
35 then I would speak, and not fear him, for I am not so in myself.
Then I could speak up without being afraid—but since I am, I can't!”
