Home Master Index
←Prev   Job 9 as rendered by/in  Next→ 



9:1  Then Job answered:
9:2  “Truly, I know it is so, but how can a man be righteous with God?
9:3  If one would dispute with Him, he cannot answer Him once in a thousand times.
9:4  He is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against Him and prospered?
9:5  He who removes mountains, and they know not, who overturns them in His anger.
9:6  He who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble.
9:7  He who commands the sun, and it does not rise; he seals off the stars.
9:8  He who alone spreads out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea.
9:9  He who makes the Bear, Orion, and Pleiades, and the constellations of the south.
9:10  He who does great things, beyond discovery, yes, and wonders beyond number.
9:11  Yes, He would cross before me, and I would not see Him; He would pass on by, but I would not perceive Him.
9:12  Yes, He takes away; who can hinder Him? Who will say to Him, ‘What are You doing?’
9:13  God will not withdraw His anger. The proud helpers bow down beneath Him.
9:14  “How, then, can I myself answer Him, and choose my words to reason with Him?
9:15  Even if I were righteous I could not answer; I would plead to my Judge for favor.
9:16  If I called, and He answered me, I would not believe that He had listened to my voice.
9:17  For He crushes me with a storm and multiplies my wounds without cause.
9:18  He will not allow me to get my breath, but fills me with bitterness.
9:19  If it is a matter of strength, indeed, He is strong; and if of justice, who will set me a time to plead?
9:20  Though I were righteous, my own mouth would condemn me; though I were perfect, it would prove me perverse.
9:21  “Though I were perfect, I would not know myself; I would despise my life.
9:22  It is all one thing; therefore I said, ‘He destroys both the perfect and the wicked.’
9:23  If the whip kills suddenly, He will laugh at the trial of the innocent.
9:24  The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If it is not He, then who is it?
9:25  “Now my days are swifter than a runner; they flee away; they see no good.
9:26  They pass by like reed skiffs, like an eagle rushing upon its prey.
9:27  If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint; I will leave off my sad face and brighten up,’
9:28  I am afraid of all my sorrows; I know that You will not hold me innocent.
9:29  If I am guilty, why then do I labor in vain?
9:30  If I wash myself with snow water and cleanse my hands with soap,
9:31  yet You will plunge me into the pit, and my own clothes will abhor me.
9:32  “For He is not a man as I am, that I should answer Him, and we should come together in judgment.
9:33  Nor is there a mediator between us, who may lay his hand upon us both.
9:34  Let Him take His rod away from me, and let not dread of Him terrify me.
9:35  Then I would speak and not fear Him, but it is not so with me.