Job 9
Job Replies: There Is No Arbiter
[1] Then Job answered and said:
[2] “Truly I know that it is so:
But how can a man be in the right before God?
[3] If one wished to contend with him,
one could not answer him once in a thousand times.
[4] He is wise in heart and mighty in strength
—who has hardened himself against him, and succeeded?—
[5] he who removes mountains, and they know it not,
when he overturns them in his anger,
[6] who shakes the earth out of its place,
and its pillars tremble;
[7] who commands the sun, and it does not rise;
who seals up the stars;
[8] who alone stretched out the heavens
and trampled the waves of the sea;
[9] who made the Bear and Orion,
the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;
[10] who does great things beyond searching out,
and marvelous things beyond number.
[11] Behold, he passes by me, and I see him not;
he moves on, but I do not perceive him.
[12] Behold, he snatches away; who can turn him back?
Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’
[13] “God will not turn back his anger;
beneath him bowed the helpers of Rahab.
[14] How then can I answer him,
choosing my words with him?
[15] Though I am in the right, I cannot answer him;
I must appeal for mercy to my accuser.
[16] If I summoned him and he answered me,
I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.
[17] For he crushes me with a tempest
and multiplies my wounds without cause;
[18] he will not let me get my breath,
but fills me with bitterness.
[19] If it is a contest of strength, behold, he is mighty!
If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?
[20] Though I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me;
though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
[21] I am blameless; I regard not myself;
I loathe my life.
[22] It is all one; therefore I say,
‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
[23] When disaster brings sudden death,
he mocks at the calamity of the innocent.
[24] The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;
he covers the faces of its judges—
if it is not he, who then is it?
[25] “My days are swifter than a runner;
they flee away; they see no good.
[26] They go by like skiffs of reed,
like an eagle swooping on the prey.
[27] If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint,
I will put off my sad face, and be of good cheer,’
[28] I become afraid of all my suffering,
for I know you will not hold me innocent.
[29] I shall be condemned;
why then do I labor in vain?
[30] If I wash myself with snow
and cleanse my hands with lye,
[31] yet you will plunge me into a pit,
and my own clothes will abhor me.
[32] For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him,
that we should come to trial together.
[33] There is no arbiter between us,
who might lay his hand on us both.
[34] Let him take his rod away from me,
and let not dread of him terrify me.
[35] Then I would speak without fear of him,
for I am not so in myself. (ESV)
