Job 9

Hymnic praise

1Job responded:

2I know for certain that this is so;

and how can anyone be innocent before God?

3If one wants to contend with him,

he won’t answer one in a thousand.

4He is wise#9.4 Or wise in heart; cf 37:24 and powerful;

who can resist him and prosper?

5Who removes mountains, and they are unaware;

who overthrows them in anger?

6Who shakes the earth from its place,

and its pillars shudder?

7Who commands the sun, and it does not rise,

even seals up the stars;

8stretched out the heavens alone

and trod on the waves of the Sea;#9.8 Heb Yam, a sea god

9made the Bear and Orion, Pleiades

and the southern constellations;

10does great and unsearchable things,

wonders beyond number?

A mismatch

11If God goes by me, I can’t see him;

he glides past, and I can’t perceive him.

12If he seizes, who can bring back?

Who can say to him, “What are you doing?”

13God won’t retract his anger;

the helpers of Rahab bow beneath him.

14Yet I myself will answer him;

I’ll choose my words in a contest#9.14 Heb lacks in a contest. with him.

15Even if I’m innocent, I can’t answer;

I must plead for justice.

16If I were to call and he answered me,

I couldn’t believe that he heard my voice.

17Who bruises me with a tempest

and multiplies my wounds for no reason?

18He doesn’t let me catch my breath,

for he fills me with bitterness.

19If the issue is strength—behold power!

If justice—who calls God to meet me?

There is no justice

20If I’m innocent, my mouth condemns me;

I have integrity; but God declares me perverse.

21I’m blameless, yet don’t know myself;

I reject my life.

22It’s all the same;

therefore, I say God destroys the blameless and the sinners.

23If calamity suddenly kills,

he mocks at the slaying#9.23 Heb uncertain of innocents.

24The earth is handed over to the wicked;

he covers the faces of its judges.

If not God, then who does?

Job wants an arbitrator

25My days are swifter than a runner;

they flee and don’t experience good.

26They sweep by like ships made of reeds,

as an eagle swoops on prey.

27If I say, “I’ll forget my lament,

put on a different face so I can smile,”

28I’m still afraid of all my suffering;

I know that you won’t declare me innocent.

29I myself am thought guilty;

why have I tried so hard in vain?

30If I wash myself with snow,

purify my hands with soap,

31then you’ll hurl me into a slimy pit

so that my clothes detest me.

32God is not a man like me—someone I could answer—

so that we could come together in court.

33Oh, that#9.33 Or There is no there were a mediator between us;

he would lay his hand on both of us,

34remove his rod from me,

so his fury wouldn’t frighten me.

35Then I would speak—unafraid—

for I’m not that way.

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Job 9: CEB

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Job 9

Job's Inability to Answer God

1Then Job answered and said,

2I know it is so of a truth:

but how should man be just with God?

3If he will contend with him,

he cannot answer him one of a thousand.

4 He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength:

who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?

5which removeth the mountains, and they know not;

which overturneth them in his anger;

6which shaketh the earth out of her place,

and the pillars thereof tremble;

7which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not;

and sealeth up the stars;

8which alone spreadeth out the heavens,

and treadeth upon the waves of the sea;

9 # Job 38.31; Amos 5.8. which maketh Arctu´rus, Ori´on, and Plei´ades,

and the chambers of the south;

10which doeth great things past finding out;

yea, and wonders without number.

11Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not:

he passeth on also, but I perceive him not.

12Behold, he taketh away, who can hinder him?

Who will say unto him, What doest thou?

13 If God will not withdraw his anger,

the proud helpers do stoop under him.

14How much less shall I answer him,

and choose out my words to reason with him?

15whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer,

but I would make supplication to my judge.

16If I had called, and he had answered me;

yet would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice.

17For he breaketh me with a tempest,

and multiplieth my wounds without cause.

18He will not suffer me to take my breath,

but filleth me with bitterness.

19If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong:

and if of judgment, who shall set me a time to plead?

20If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me:

if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.

21 Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul:

I would despise my life.

22This is one thing, therefore I said it,

He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.

23If the scourge slay suddenly,

he will laugh at the trial of the innocent.

24The earth is given into the hand of the wicked:

he covereth the faces of the judges thereof;

if not, where, and who is he?

25Now my days are swifter than a post:

they flee away, they see no good.

26They are passed away as the swift ships:

as the eagle that hasteth to the prey.

27If I say, I will forget my complaint,

I will leave off my heaviness, and comfort myself;

28I am afraid of all my sorrows,

I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent.

29 If I be wicked,

why then labor I in vain?

30If I wash myself with snow water,

and make my hands never so clean;

31yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch,

and mine own clothes shall abhor me.

32For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him,

and we should come together in judgment.

33Neither is there any daysman betwixt us,

that might lay his hand upon us both.

34Let him take his rod away from me,

and let not his fear terrify me:

35 then would I speak, and not fear him;

but it is not so with me.

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