Job 9
1 Then Job replied,
Then Job answered and said,
2 “Yes, I certainly know that [much of] what you said is true. But (how can anyone say to God, ‘I (am innocent/have not done what is wrong) and prove it?’/no one can say to God ‘I (am innocent/have not done what is wrong) and prove it.’) [RHQ]
“I truly know that this is so. But how can a person be in the right with God?
3 If someone wanted to argue with God [about that], God could ask him 1,000 questions, and that person would not be able to answer any of them!
If he wants to argue with God, he cannot answer him once in a thousand times.
4 God is very wise [IDM] and very powerful; no one who has tried to challenge God has been able to win.
God is wise in heart and mighty in strength; who has ever hardened himself against him and succeeded?—
5 He even moves mountains, without them (OR, anyone) knowing about it. When he is angry, he turns them upside down.
he who removes the mountains without warning anyone when he overturns them in his anger—
6 He sends earthquakes that shake the ground; he causes the pillars that support the earth to tremble.
he who shakes the earth out of its place and sets its supports trembling.
7 [Some days] he speaks to the sun, and it does not rise, and [some nights] he prevents the stars from shining.
It is the same God who tells the sun not to rise, and it does not, and who covers up the stars,
8 He alone (stretched out/put in place) the sky; he alone puts his feet on the waves (OR, on the huge sea monster).
who by himself stretches out the heavens and tramples down the waves of the sea,
9 He put in their places [the clusters/groups of stars that are called] The Dipper/Bear, Orion, the Pleiades, and the stars in the southern sky.
who makes the Bear, Orion, the Pleiades, and the constellations of the south.
10 Only he does great things that we cannot understand; he does more marvelous things than we are able to count.
He does great and unsearchable things, and wonderful things that cannot be counted.
11 He passes by where I am, but I do not see him; he moves further on, but I do not see him go.
See, he goes by me, and I do not see him; he passes on also, but I do not perceive him.
12 If he [wants to] snatch something away, no one [RHQ] can hinder him; no one dares to ask him, ‘Why are you doing that?’ [RHQ]
If he takes something away, who can stop him? Who can say to him, 'What are you doing?'
13 God will not very easily stop being angry; he defeated [MTY] those who [tried to] help Rahab, [the great sea monster].
God will not withdraw his anger; the helpers of Rahab bow beneath him.
14 “So, [if God took me to court], what could I say [MTY] to answer him?
How much less could I answer him, could I choose words to reason with him?
15 Even though I (would be innocent/would not have done what is wrong), I would not be able to answer him. All I could do would be to request God, my judge/accuser, to act mercifully toward me.
Even if I were righteous, I could not answer him; I could only plead for mercy with my judge.
16 If I summoned him to [come to the courtroom] and he said that he would come, I would not believe that he would pay attention to what I would say.
Even if I called and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.
17 He sends storms to batter me, and he bruises me many times (without any reason to do that/even though I am innocent).
For he breaks me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause.
18 [It is as though] he will not let me get/catch my breath, because he causes me to suffer all the time.
He does not allow me to regain my breath; but he fills me with bitterness.
19 If I would try to (wrestle with/fight against) him, [there is no way that I could defeat him, ] [because] he is stronger than I am. If I would request him to appear in court, there is no one who could [RHQ] force him to go there.
If it is a matter of strength, behold, he is mighty! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?
20 Even though I was innocent, what I would say would cause him to say that I must be punished [MTY]; even though I had not done anything wrong, he would prove that I am guilty.
Though I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; and though I am blameless, my words would prove me to be guilty.
21 “I have not done what is wrong, but that is not important. I despise continuing to remain alive.
I am blameless, but I do not care any more about myself; I despise my own life.
22 But it doesn’t matter, because God will get rid of [all of us, ] both those who are innocent and those who are wicked.
It makes no difference, which is why I say that he destroys blameless people and wicked people together.
23 When people experience disaster and it causes them to suddenly die, God laughs at it, even if they are innocent.
When a whip suddenly kills, he mocks the despair of the innocent.
24 God has allowed wicked people to control [what happens in] the world. [It is as though] he has caused judges to be blindfolded, [with the result that they cannot judge fairly]. If it is not God who has put wicked people in control, who has done it?
The earth is given into the hand of wicked people; God covers the faces of its judges. If it is not he who does it, then who is it?
25 “My days go by very quickly, like a fast runner; [it is as though] they run away, and nothing good happens to me on those days.
My days are swifter than a running messenger; my days flee away; they see no good anywhere.
26 My life goes by very rapidly, like a boat made from reeds sailing swiftly, or like an eagle that swoops down to seize a small animal.
They are as fast as papyrus reed boats, and as fast as the eagle that swoops down on its victim.
27 If I smile and say [to God], ‘I will forget what I am complaining about; I will stop looking sad and try to be cheerful/happy,’
If I said that I would forget about my complaints, that I would take off my sad face and be happy,
28 then I become afraid because of all that I am suffering, because I know that God does not consider that I am innocent.
I would be afraid of all my sorrows because I know that you will not consider me innocent.
29 He will (condemn me/declare that I should be punished), so why should I keep trying in vain [to defend myself]?
I will be condemned; why, then, should I try in vain?
30 If I washed myself with snow or cleansed my hands with lye/soap [to get rid of my guilt],
If I washed myself with snow water and made my hands ever so clean,
31 he would still throw me into a filthy pit; as a result [it would be as though] even my clothes would detest me.
God would plunge me in a ditch, and my own clothes would be disgusted with me.
32 “God is not a human, as I am, so there is no way that I could answer him [to prove that I am innocent] if we went together to have a trial [in a courtroom].
For God is not a man, as I am, that I could answer him, that we could come together in court.
33 There is no one to (mediate/hear us and decide who is right), no one who has authority over both of us [IDM].
There is no judge between us who might lay his hand upon us both.
34 I wish/desire that he would stop punishing [MTY] me, and that he would not continue to terrify me.
There is no other judge who could take God's rod off me, who could keep his terror from frightening me.
35 If he did that, I would declare [that I am innocent] without being afraid of him, because I know that I really have not [done what is wrong like God thinks that I have].”
Then would I speak up and not fear him. But as things are now, I cannot do that.
