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. |