Job 9:1–35

¹ Then Job answered: ² “Yes, I know that it is so, but how can a mortal be righteous before God? ³ If one wished to contend with God, he could not answer Him one time out of a thousand. ⁴ God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has resisted Him and prospered? ⁵ He moves mountains without their knowledge and overturns them in His anger. ⁶ He shakes the earth from its place, so that its foundations tremble. ⁷ He commands the sun not to shine; He seals off the stars. ⁸ He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea. ⁹ He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion, of the Pleiades and the constellations of the south. ¹⁰ He does great things beyond searching out, and wonders without number. ¹¹ Were He to pass by me, I would not see Him; were He to move, I would not recognize Him. ¹² If He takes away, who can stop Him? Who dares to ask Him, ‘What are You doing?’ ¹³ God does not restrain His anger; the helpers of Rahab cower beneath Him. ¹⁴ How then can I answer Him or choose my arguments against Him? ¹⁵ For even if I were right, I could not answer. I could only beg my Judge for mercy. ¹⁶ If I summoned Him and He answered me, I do not believe He would listen to my voice. ¹⁷ For He would crush me with a tempest and multiply my wounds without cause. ¹⁸ He does not let me catch my breath, but overwhelms me with bitterness. ¹⁹ If it is a matter of strength, He is indeed mighty! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon Him ? ²⁰ Even if I were righteous, my mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, it would declare me guilty. ²¹ Though I am blameless, I have no concern for myself; I despise my own life. ²² It is all the same, and so I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’ ²³ When the scourge brings sudden death, He mocks the despair of the innocent. ²⁴ The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; He blindfolds its judges. If it is not He, then who is it? ²⁵ My days are swifter than a runner; they flee without seeing good. ²⁶ They sweep by like boats of papyrus, like an eagle swooping down on its prey. ²⁷ If I were to say, ‘I will forget my complaint and change my expression and smile,’ ²⁸ I would still dread all my sufferings; I know that You will not acquit me. ²⁹ Since I am already found guilty, why should I labor in vain? ³⁰ If I should wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye, ³¹ then You would plunge me into the pit, and even my own clothes would despise me. ³² For He is not a man like me, that I can answer Him, that we can take each other to court. ³³ Nor is there a mediator between us, to lay his hand upon us both. ³⁴ Let Him remove His rod from me, so that His terror will no longer frighten me. ³⁵ Then I would speak without f…