【Job】Chapter 9 << Last Chapter Next Chapter >>

9:1 Then Job answered and said:

9:2 I know well that it is so; but how can a man be justified 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 unscathed?

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 rises not; he seals up the stars.

9:8 He alone stretches out the heavens and treads upon the crests of the sea.

9:9 He made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the south;

9:10 He does great things past finding out, marvelous things beyond reckoning.

9:11 Should he come near me, I see him not; should he pass by, I am not aware of him;

9:12 Should he seize me forcibly, who can say him nay? 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 much less shall I give him any answer, or choose out arguments against him!

9:15 Even though I were right, I could not answer him, but should rather beg for what was due me.

9:16 If I appealed to him and he answered my call, I could not believe that he would hearken to my words;

9:17 With a tempest he might overwhelm me, and multiply my wounds without cause;

9:18 He need not suffer me to draw breath, but might fill me with bitter griefs.

9:19 If it be a question of strength, he is mighty; and if of judgment, who will call him to account?

9:20 Though I were right, my own mouth might condemn me; were I innocent, he might put me in the wrong.

9:21 Though I am innocent, I myself cannot know it; I despise my life.

9:22It is all one! therefore I say: Both the innocent and the wicked he destroys.

9:23 When the scourge slays suddenly, he laughs 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 If I must be accounted guilty, why then should I strive in vain?

9:30 If I should wash myself with snow 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. Would 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,

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