Job 9

Job Replies: There Is No Arbiter

1 Then Job answered and said:

2  “Truly I know that it is so:
But how can a man be a in the right before God?
 3 If one wished to b contend with him,
one could not answer him once in a thousand times.
 4 He is c wise in heart and mighty in strength
—who has d hardened himself against him, and succeeded?—
 5 he who removes mountains, and they know it not,
when he overturns them in his anger,
 6 who e shakes the earth out of its place,
and f its pillars tremble;
 7 who commands the sun, and it does not rise;
who seals up the stars;
 8 who alone g stretched out the heavens
and trampled the waves of the sea;
 9 who h made i the Bear and j Orion,
the Pleiades k and the chambers of the south;
 10 who does l great things beyond searching out,
and marvelous things beyond number.
 11 Behold, he passes by me, and I m see him not;
he moves on, but I do not perceive him.
 12 Behold, he snatches away; n who can turn him back?
o Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’
 13  “God will not turn back his anger;
beneath him bowed the helpers of p Rahab.
 14  q How then can I r answer him,
choosing my words with him?
 15  s Though I am in the right, I cannot answer him;
I must t appeal for mercy to my accuser. ▼
▼ Or  to my judge

 16 If I summoned him and he answered me,
I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.
 17 For he crushes me with a tempest
and multiplies my wounds v without cause;
 18 he will not let me get my breath,
but fills me with bitterness.
 19 If it is a contest of w strength, behold, he is mighty!
If it is a matter of justice, who can x summon him? ▼
▼ Compare Septuagint; Hebrew me

 20 Though I am in the right, z my own mouth would condemn me;
though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
 21 I am aa blameless; I regard not myself;
I ab loathe my life.
 22 It is all one; therefore I say,
‘He ac destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
 23 When ad disaster brings sudden death,
he mocks at the calamity ▼
▼ The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain
 of the innocent.
 24  af The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;
he ag covers the faces of its judges—
ah if it is not he, who then is it?
 25  “My ai days are swifter than aj a runner;
they flee away; they see no good.
 26 They go by like ak skiffs of reed,
like al an eagle swooping on the prey.
 27 If I say am ‘I will forget my complaint,
I will put off my sad face, and an be of good cheer,’
 28 I become ao afraid of all my suffering,
for I know you will not ap hold me innocent.
 29 I shall be aq condemned;
why then do I labor in vain?
 30 If I wash myself with snow
and ar cleanse my hands with lye,
 31 yet you will plunge me into a pit,
and my own clothes will as abhor me.
 32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him,
that we should at come to trial together.
 33  au There is no ▼
▼ Or Would that there were an
 arbiter between us,
who might lay his hand on us both.
 34  aw Let him take his ax rod away from me,
and let ay not dread of him terrify me.
 35 Then I would speak without fear of him,
for I am not so in myself.
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