Job 9

1Then Job answered and said:

2Truly, I know that it is so; but how can a man be righteous before God?

3If one wished to contend with him, he could not answer him once in a thousand.

4He is wise in heart and mighty in strength; who has hardened himself against him and come through unharmed?

5He removes mountains, and they do not know it, when he overturns them in his anger.

6who shakes the earth from its place, and its pillars tremble.

7who says to the sun, ‘Do not rise,’ and seals up the stars.

8who alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the heights of the sea.

9who makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.

10who does great things beyond searching out, and wonders beyond number.

11Look, he passes by me, and I do not see him; he moves on, and I do not perceive him.

12Look, he snatches away; who can turn him back? Who can say to him, “What are you doing?”

13God does not turn back his anger; beneath him the helpers of Rahab bow down.

14How much less could I answer him and choose my words with him?

15Even if I were in the right, I would not answer; I would plead for mercy from my judge.

16If I called and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.

17who crushes me with a storm and multiplies my wounds without cause.

18He does not let me catch my breath, for he fills me with bitter things.

19If it is a matter of strength, look—he is mighty! If it is a matter of judgment, who can summon me?

20If I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, it would prove me crooked.

21I am blameless; I do not know myself; I despise my life.

22It is all the same; therefore I say, “He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.”

23If a scourge kills suddenly, he mocks the despair of the innocent.

24The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he covers the faces of its judges. If not, then who is it?

25My days are swifter than a runner; they flee away; they do not see good.

26They pass by like reed boats, like an eagle swooping on prey.

27If I say, “I will forget my complaint; I will put aside my sad face and be cheerful,”

28I am afraid of all my pains; I know that you will not acquit me.

29I will be condemned; why then should I labor in vain?

30If I washed myself with snow and cleansed my hands with lye,

31then you would plunge me into the pit, and my clothes would abhor me.

32For he is not a man like me, that I should answer him, that we should come together in court.

33There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both.

34Let him remove his rod from me, and let not his terror frighten me.

35Then I would speak and not fear him, for it is not so with me.