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9:1  Job’s reply:
9:2  “Yes, I know all that. You’re not telling me anything new. But how can a man be truly good in the eyes of God?
9:3  If God decides to argue with him, can a man answer even one question of a thousand he asks?
9:4  For God is so wise and so mighty. Who has ever opposed him successfully?
9:5  “Suddenly he moves the mountains, overturning them in his anger.
9:6  He shakes the earth to its foundations.
9:7  The sun won’t rise, the stars won’t shine, if he commands it so!
9:8  Only he has stretched the heavens out and stalked along the seas.
9:9  He made the Bear, Orion and the Pleiades, and the constellations of the southern Zodiac.
9:10  “He does incredible miracles, too many to count.
9:11  He passes by, invisible; he moves along, but I don’t see him go.
9:12  When he sends death to snatch a man away, who can stop him? Who dares to ask him, ‘What are you doing?’
9:13  “And God does not abate his anger. The pride of man collapses before him.
9:14  And who am I that I should try to argue with Almighty God, or even reason with him?
9:15  Even if I were sinless, I wouldn’t say a word. I would only plead for mercy.
9:16  And even if my prayers were answered, I could scarce believe that he had heard my cry.
9:17  For he is the one who destroys, and multiplies my wounds without a cause.
9:18  He will not let me breathe, but fills me with bitter sorrows.
9:19  He alone is strong and just.
9:20  “But I? Am I righteous? My own mouth says no. Even if I were perfect, God would prove me wicked.
9:21  And even if I am utterly innocent, I dare not think of it. I despise what I am.
9:22  Innocent or evil, it is all the same to him, for he destroys both kinds.
9:23  He will laugh when calamity crushes the innocent.
9:24  The whole earth is in the hands of the wicked. God blinds the eyes of the judges and lets them be unfair. If not he, then who?
9:25  “My life passes swiftly away, filled with tragedy.
9:26  My years disappear like swift ships, like the eagle that swoops upon its prey.
9:27  “If I decided to forget my complaints against God, to end my sadness and be cheerful,
9:28  then he would pour even greater sorrows upon me. For I know that you will not hold me innocent, O God,
9:29  but will condemn me. So what’s the use of trying?
9:30  Even if I were to wash myself with purest water and cleanse my hands with lye to make them utterly clean,
9:31  even so you would plunge me into the ditch and mud; and even my clothing would be less filthy than you consider me to be!
9:32  “And I cannot defend myself, for you are no mere man as I am. If you were, then we could discuss it fairly, but there is no umpire between us, no middle man, no mediator to bring us together.
9:33  “And I cannot defend myself, for you are no mere man as I am. If you were, then we could discuss it fairly, but there is no umpire between us, no middle man, no mediator to bring us together.
9:34  Oh, let him stop beating me, so that I need no longer live in terror of his punishment.
9:35  Then I could speak without fear to him and tell him boldly that I am not guilty.