Job 9
1 Job answered:
2 “Indeed, I know that it is so. But how can a human being be right before God?
3 If someone wanted to argue with him, he would not answer even once in a thousand.
4 He is wise in heart and mighty in power. Who has hardened himself against him and come out unharmed?
5 He moves mountains, and they do not even know it; in his anger he overturns them.
6 He shakes the earth from its place, and its pillars tremble.
7 He speaks to the sun, and it does not shine; he seals up the stars.
8 He alone stretches out the heavens and walks on the heights of the sea.
9 He made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.
10 He does great things beyond searching and wonders beyond number.
11 Look, he passes by me, and I do not see him; he moves on, and I do not notice him.
12 Look, he snatches away, and who can make him give it back? Who can say to him, ‘What are you doing?’”
13 “God does not turn back his anger; beneath him the helpers of Rahab bow down.
14 How much less could I answer him or choose my words before him!
15 Even if I were in the right, I would not answer; I would plead with my judge.
16 If I called and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.
17 For he crushes me with a storm and multiplies my wounds without cause.
18 He does not let me catch my breath, but fills me with bitterness.
19 If it is a matter of strength—he is the strong one! If it is a matter of justice—who can summon me?
20 If I were in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, it would make me crooked.
21 I am blameless; I no longer know myself. I despise my life.
22 It is all the same. So I say: he destroys both the blameless and the wicked.
23 When a scourge brings sudden death, he mocks the trial of the innocent.”
24 “The earth has been handed over to the wicked; he covers the faces of its judges. If it is not he, then who is it?
25 My days run faster than a runner; they have fled without seeing anything good.
26 They have passed like reed boats, like an eagle swooping down on its food.
27 I say, ‘I will forget my complaint; I will change my expression and be cheerful.’
28 But I dread all my suffering, for I know you will not consider me innocent.
29 I will be judged guilty. Why, then, do I wear myself out in vain?
30 I could wash myself with snow water and cleanse my hands with lye.
31 Yet you would plunge me into the pit, and even my own clothes would abhor me.
32 For he is not a man like me, that I might answer him, that we might go together to judgment.
33 There is no arbiter between us to lay a hand on us both.
34 Let him take his rod away from me, and let his terror not frighten me.
35 Then I would speak without fearing him; but as things stand, I cannot.”
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