Job 9 — NETB

9Verse 1Then Job answered:^{Verse 2}“Truly, I know that this is so.
But how can a human be just before God?
^{Verse 3}If someone wishes to contend with him,
he cannot answer him one time in a thousand.
^{Verse 4}He is wise in heart and mighty in strength –
who has resisted him and remained safe?^{Verse 5}He who removes mountains suddenly,
who overturns them in his anger;
^{Verse 6}he who shakes the earth out of its place
so that its pillars tremble;
^{Verse 7}he who commands the sun and it does not shine
and seals up the stars;
^{Verse 8}he alone spreads out the heavens,
and treads on the waves of the sea;
^{Verse 9}he makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades,
and the constellations of the southern sky;
^{Verse 10}he does great and unsearchable things,
and wonderful things without number.
^{Verse 11}If he passes by me, I cannot see him,
if he goes by, I cannot perceive him.
^{Verse 12}If he snatches away, who can turn him back?
Who dares to say to him, ‘What are you doing?’
^{Verse 13}God does not restrain his anger;
under him the helpers of Rahab lie crushed.

The Impossibility of Facing God in Court

^{Verse 14}“How much less, then, can I answer him
and choose my words to argue with him!
^{Verse 15}Although I am innocent,
I could not answer him;
I could only plead with my judge for mercy.
^{Verse 16}If I summoned him, and he answered me,
I would not believe
that he would be listening to my voice –
^{Verse 17}he who crushes me with a tempest,
and multiplies my wounds for no reason.
^{Verse 18}He does not allow me to recover my breath,
for he fills me with bitterness.
^{Verse 19}If it is a matter of strength,
most certainly he is the strong one!
And if it is a matter of justice,
he will say, ‘Who will summon me?’
^{Verse 20}Although I am innocent,
my mouth would condemn me;
although I am blameless,
it would declare me perverse.
^{Verse 21}I am blameless. I do not know myself.
I despise my life.

Accusation of God’s Justice

^{Verse 22}“It is all one! That is why I say,
‘He destroys the blameless and the guilty.’
^{Verse 23}If a scourge brings sudden death,
he mocks at the despair of the innocent.
^{Verse 24}If a land has been given
into the hand of a wicked man,
he covers the faces of its judges;
if it is not he, then who is it?

Renewed Complaint

^{Verse 25}“My days are swifter than a runner,
they speed by without seeing happiness.
^{Verse 26}They glide by like reed boats,
like an eagle that swoops down on its prey.
^{Verse 27}If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint,
I will change my expression and be cheerful,’
^{Verse 28}I dread all my sufferings,
for I know that you do not hold me blameless.
^{Verse 29}If I am guilty,
why then weary myself in vain?
^{Verse 30}If I wash myself with snow water,
and make my hands clean with lye,
^{Verse 31}then you plunge me into a slimy pit
and my own clothes abhor me.
^{Verse 32}For he is not a human being like I am,
that I might answer him,
that we might come together in judgment.
^{Verse 33}Nor is there an arbiter between us,
who might lay his hand on us both,
^{Verse 34}who would take his rod away from me
so that his terror would not make me afraid.
^{Verse 35}Then would I speak and not fear him,
but it is not so with me.