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9:1  Then Job answered and said:
9:2  I know well that it is so; but how can anyone be in the right before God?
9:3  Should one wish to contend with him, he could not answer him once in a thousand times.
9:4  God is wise in heart and mighty in strength; who has withstood him and remained whole?
9:5  He removes the mountains before they know it; he overturns them in his anger.
9:6  He shakes the earth out of its place, and the pillars beneath it tremble.
9:7  He commands the sun, and it does not rise; he seals up the stars.
9:8  He alone stretches out the heavens and treads upon the back of the sea.
9:9  He made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the south;
9:10  He does things great and unsearchable, things marvelous and innumerable.
9:11  Should he come near me, I do not see him; should he pass by, I am not aware of him;
9:12  Should he seize me forcibly, who can resist? Who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
9:13  He is God and he does not relent; the helpers of Rahab bow beneath him.
9:14  How then could I give him any answer, or choose out arguments against him!
9:15  Even though I were right, I could not answer, but should rather beg for what was due me.
9:16  If I appealed to him and he answered me, I could not believe that he would listen to me;
9:17  With a storm he might overwhelm me, and multiply my wounds for nothing;
9:18  He would not allow me to draw breath, but might fill me with bitter griefs.
9:19  If it be a question of strength, he is mighty; or of judgment, who will call him to account?
9:20  Though I were right, my own mouth might condemn me; were I innocent, it might put me in the wrong.
9:21  I am innocent, but I cannot know it; I despise my life.
9:22  It is all one! therefore I say: Both the innocent and the wicked he destroys.
9:23  When the scourge slays suddenly, he scoffs at the despair of the innocent.
9:24  The earth is given into the hands 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 happiness;
9:26  They shoot by like skiffs of reed, like an eagle swooping upon its prey.
9:27  If I say: I will forget my complaining, I will lay aside my sadness and be of good cheer,
9:28  Then I am in dread of all my pains; I know that you will not hold me innocent.
9:29  It is I who will be accounted guilty; why then should I strive in vain?
9:30  If I should wash myself with soap and cleanse my hands with lye,
9:31  Yet you would plunge me in the ditch, so that my garments would abhor me.
9:32  For he is not a man like myself, that I should answer him, that we should come together in judgment.
9:33  Would that there were an arbiter between us, who could lay his hand upon us both
9:34  and withdraw his rod from me, So that his terrors did not frighten me;
9:35  that I might speak without being afraid of him. Since this is not the case with me, I loathe my life.