Job 9
1 Then Job answered,
And Job made answer and said,
2 “Truly I know that it is so, but how can man be just with God?
Truly, I see that it is so: and how is it possible for a man to get his right before God?
3 If he is pleased to contend with him, he can’t answer him one time in a thousand.
If a man was desiring to go to law with him, he would not be able to give him an answer to one out of a thousand questions.
4 God is wise in heart, and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against him and prospered?
He is wise in heart and great in strength: who ever made his face hard against him, and any good came of it?
5 He removes the mountains, and they don’t know it, when he overturns them in his anger.
It is he who takes away the mountains without their knowledge, overturning them in his wrath:
6 He shakes the earth out of its place. Its pillars tremble.
Who is moving the earth out of its place, so that its pillars are shaking:
7 He commands the sun and it doesn’t rise, and seals up the stars.
Who gives orders to the sun, and it does not give its light; and who keeps the stars from shining.
8 He alone stretches out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea.
By whose hand the heavens were stretched out, and who is walking on the waves of the sea:
9 He makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the rooms of the south.
Who made the Bear and Orion, and the Pleiades, and the store-houses of the south:
10 He does great things past finding out; yes, marvelous things without number.
Who does great things not to be searched out; yes, wonders without number.
11 Behold, he goes by me, and I don’t see him. He passes on also, but I don’t perceive him.
See, he goes past me and I see him not: he goes on before, but I have no knowledge of him.
12 Behold, he snatches away. Who can hinder him? Who will ask him, ‘What are you doing?’
If he puts out his hand to take, by whom may it be turned back? who may say to him, What are you doing?
13 “God will not withdraw his anger. The helpers of Rahab stoop under him.
God's wrath may not be turned back; the helpers of Rahab were bent down under him.
14 How much less will I answer him, and choose my words to argue with him?
How much less may I give an answer to him, using the right words in argument with him?
15 Though I were righteous, yet I wouldn’t answer him. I would make supplication to my judge.
Even if my cause was good, I would not be able to give an answer; I would make request for grace from him who was against me.
16 If I had called, and he had answered me, yet I wouldn’t believe that he listened to my voice.
If I had sent for him to be present, and he had come, I would have no faith that he would give ear to my voice.
17 For he breaks me with a storm, and multiplies my wounds without cause.
For I would be crushed by his storm, my wounds would be increased without cause.
18 He will not allow me to catch my breath, but fills me with bitterness.
He would not let me take my breath, but I would be full of bitter grief.
19 If it is a matter of strength, behold, he is mighty! If of justice, ‘Who,’ says he, ‘will summon me?’
If it is a question of strength, he says, Here I am! and if it is a question of a cause at law, he says, Who will give me a fixed day?
20 Though I am righteous, my own mouth will condemn me. Though I am blameless, it will prove me perverse.
Though I was in the right, he would say that I was in the wrong; I have done no evil; but he says that I am a sinner.
21 I am blameless. I don’t respect myself. I despise my life.
I have done no wrong; I give no thought to what becomes of me; I have no desire for life.
22 “It is all the same. Therefore I say he destroys the blameless and the wicked.
It is all the same to me; so I say, He puts an end to the sinner and to him who has done no wrong together.
23 If the scourge kills suddenly, he will mock at the trial of the innocent.
If death comes suddenly through disease, he makes sport of the fate of those who have done no wrong.
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 land is given into the power of the evil-doer; the faces of its judges are covered; if not by him, then who has done it?
25 “Now my days are swifter than a runner. They flee away. They see no good.
My days go quicker than a post-runner: they go in flight, they see no good.
26 They have passed away as the swift ships, as the eagle that swoops on the prey.
They go rushing on like reed-boats, like an eagle dropping suddenly on its food.
27 If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face, and cheer up,’
If I say, I will put my grief out of mind, I will let my face be sad no longer and I will be bright;
28 I am afraid of all my sorrows. I know that you will not hold me innocent.
I go in fear of all my pains; I am certain that I will not be free from sin in your eyes.
29 I will be condemned. Why then do I labor in vain?
You will not let me be clear of sin! why then do I take trouble for nothing?
30 If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with lye,
If I am washed with snow water, and make my hands clean with soap;
31 yet you will plunge me in the ditch. My own clothes will abhor me.
Then you will have me pushed into the dust, so that I will seem disgusting to my very clothing.
32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, that we should come together in judgment.
For he is not a man as I am, that I might give him an answer, that we might come together before a judge.
33 There is no umpire between us, that might lay his hand on us both.
There is no one to give a decision between us, who might have control over us.
34 Let him take his rod away from me. Let his terror not make me afraid;
Let him take away his rod from me and not send his fear on me:
35 then I would speak, and not fear him, for I am not so in myself.
Then I would say what is in my mind without fear of him; for there is no cause of fear in myself.
