9:1  Then Job answered:

9:2  "Truly I know that it is so: But how can a man be just before God?

9:3  If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times.

9:4  He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength--who has hardened himself against him, and succeeded? --

9:5  he who removes mountains, and they know it not, when he overturns them in his anger;

9:6  who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble;

9:7  who commands the sun, and it does not rise; who seals up the stars;

9:8  who alone stretched out the heavens, and trampled the waves of the sea;

9:9  who made the Bear and Orion, the Plei'ades and the chambers of the south;

9:10  who does great things beyond understanding, and marvelous things without number.

9:11  Lo, he passes by me, and I see him not; he moves on, but I do not perceive him.

9:12  Behold, he snatches away; who can hinder him? Who will say to him, 'What doest thou'?

9:13  "God will not turn back his anger; beneath him bowed the helpers of Rahab.

9:14  How then can I answer him, choosing my words with him?

9:15  Though I am innocent, I cannot answer him; I must appeal for mercy to my accuser.

9:16  If I summoned him and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.

9:17  For he crushes me with a tempest, and multiplies my wounds without cause;

9:18  he will not let me get my breath, but fills me with bitterness.

9:19  If it is a contest of strength, behold him! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?

9:20  Though I am innocent, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.

9:21  I am blameless; I regard not myself; I loathe my life.

9:22  It is all one; therefore I say, he destroys both the blameless and the wicked.

9:23  When disaster brings sudden death, he mocks at the calamity of the innocent.

9:24  The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he covers the faces of its judges--if it is not he, who then is it?

9:25  "My days are swifter than a runner; they flee away, they see no good.

9:26  They go by like skiffs of reed, like an eagle swooping on the prey.

9:27  If I say, 'I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad countenance, and be of good cheer,'

9:28  I become afraid of all my suffering, for I know thou wilt not hold me innocent.

9:29  I shall be condemned; why then do I labor in vain?

9:30  If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with lye,

9:31  yet thou wilt plunge me into a pit, and my own clothes will abhor me.

9:32  For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together.

9:33  There is no umpire between us, who might lay his hand upon us both.

9:34  Let him take his rod away from me, and let not dread of him terrify me.

9:35  Then I would speak without fear of him, for I am not so in myself.