9
1 Then Job answered:
2 “Truly, I know that this is so.
But how can a mortal be in the right before God?
3 If a mortal wished to contend with him, he could not answer him once in a thousand.
4 He is wise in heart and mighty in strength.
Who has hardened himself against him and come through unharmed?
5 He moves mountains without their knowing it, overturning them in his anger.
6 He shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble.
7 He commands the sun, and it does not rise;
he seals up the stars.
8 He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea.
9 He makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.
10 He does great things beyond searching out, wonders beyond number.
11 Look, he passes by me, and I do not see him;
he moves on, and I do not perceive him.
12 Look, he snatches away;
who can turn him back?
Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’
13 God does not turn back his anger;
beneath him bow the helpers of Rahab.
14 How much less could I answer him and choose my words before him!
15 Even if I were in the right, I could not answer;
I would have to plead with my judge.
16 If I called and he answered me, I would not believe that he had listened to my voice.
17 For he crushes me with a tempest 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, look, he is mighty!
If it is a matter of justice, who will summon me?
20 Even if I were in the right, my own mouth would condemn me;
though I am blameless, it would declare me perverse.
21 I am blameless;
I do not care about myself;
I despise my life.
22 It is all the same.
That is why I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
23 If a scourge kills suddenly, he mocks the despair of the innocent.
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?
25 My days are swifter than a courier;
they flee away without seeing good.
26 They pass like papyrus boats, like an eagle swooping on its prey.
27 If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, put aside my sad face, and brighten up,’
28 I dread all my pains;
I know that you will not hold me innocent.
29 I will be declared guilty;
why then should I toil in vain?
30 Even if I washed myself with snow water and cleansed my hands with lye,
31 you would plunge me into the pit, and my own clothes would loathe me.
32 For he is not a man like me, that I could answer him, that we could go to trial together.
33 There is no arbiter between us who could lay his hand on us both.
34 Let him remove his rod from me, and let his terror not frighten me.
35 Then I would speak and not fear him, but that is not how it is with me.