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9:1  Then Job responded:
9:2  Of course I know that this is true. But how can a man be justified before God?
9:3  If someone wants to argue with God, he could not refute one charge out of a thousand.
9:4  God has a wise heart and great power, so who can resist God and come out of it unharmed?
9:5  God removes mountains from their position, and they don’t even realize it. He overturns mountains in his anger.
9:6  He shakes the earth off its foundation. He causes its pillars to quake.
9:7  He speaks to the sun, and it does not rise, and he seals up the stars.
9:8  He alone stretches out the heavens. He treads on the crests of the sea.
9:9  He made the Bear, Orion, the Pleiades, and the constellations in the southern sky.
9:10  He does great things that are beyond investigation. He does miracles that are too many to be counted.
9:11  Though he passes by me, I do not see him. He moves past me, but I do not detect him.
9:12  If he snatches something away, who can make him bring it back? Who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
9:13  God does not hold back his anger. Even Rahab’s helpers bow down beneath him.
9:14  How much less, then, will I be able to answer him? I want to match words with him,
9:15  but even if I am in the right, I cannot answer him. I can only plead to my judge for grace.
9:16  If I called and he responded to me, I do not believe that he would listen to my voice.
9:17  With a violent storm he would crush me, and he would inflict many wounds on me for no reason.
9:18  He would not allow me to catch my breath. Instead, he would fill me with bitter experiences.
9:19  If it is a question of strength, he definitely is the strong one. If it is a question of jurisdiction, who can summon him?
9:20  Even if I am righteous, my mouth would still condemn me. If I am blameless, it would pronounce me crooked.
9:21  Although I am blameless, I cannot evaluate myself. I reject my own life.
9:22  Here is why I say, “It makes no difference.” Blameless or wicked, he brings them all to the same end.
9:23  If a whip suddenly kills people, he makes fun of the despair of the innocent.
9:24  When a land is handed over to a wicked man, God blinds the eyes of its judges. If he is not the one, then who does it?
9:25  My days are swifter than a runner. They fly away without bringing any happiness.
9:26  They glide by like reed boats, like an eagle that swoops down on its prey.
9:27  If I say, “I will forget my complaint. I will put on a happy face and smile,”
9:28  even then I dread all my pain, because I know that you will not acquit me.
9:29  I have already been declared guilty, so why should I struggle for nothing.
9:30  If I wash myself with snow, if I cleanse my hands with strong soap,
9:31  then you will plunge me into a cesspool, and my clothes will detest me.
9:32  For he is not a man as I am, so that I am able to answer him, so that we may meet in court.
9:33  There is no one to mediate between us, no one who can lay his hand on both of us.
9:34  No one can make him take his rod away from me, so that the dread of him would not fill me with terror!
9:35  If that happened, I would speak up and not be afraid. But I have no such mediator. I am left on my own.