Job 9

¹ Then Job answered and said:

² Truly I know that this is so:
but how can a mortal be righteous before God?

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

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

⁵ He who moves mountains, and they do not know it,
who overturns them in his anger;

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

⁷ who commands the sun and it does not rise,
and seals up the stars;

⁸ who alone stretches out the heavens
and treads on the heights 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 wonders beyond number.

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

¹² If he snatches away, who can turn him back?
Who will say to him, 'What are you doing?'

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

¹⁴ How then can I answer him,
choosing my words against him?

¹⁵ Though I were righteous, I could not answer him;
I would have to plead for mercy with my judge.

¹⁶ If I summoned him and he answered me,
I do not believe he would listen to my voice.

¹⁷ For he crushes me with a tempest
and multiplies my wounds without cause.

¹⁸ He does not let me catch my breath,
but fills me with bitterness.

¹⁹ If it is a matter of strength — he is mighty indeed!
If it is a matter of justice — who can summon him?

²⁰ Though I am righteous, my own mouth would condemn me;
though I am blameless, it would prove me crooked.

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

²² It is all the same — therefore I say:
he destroys the blameless and the wicked alike.

²³ When a scourge brings sudden death,
he mocks the despair 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, then who is it?

²⁵ My days are swifter than a runner;
they flee away, they see no good.

²⁶ They sweep by like boats of reed,
like an eagle that swoops on its prey.

²⁷ If I say, 'I will forget my complaint,
I will put off my sad face and be cheerful,'

²⁸ I dread all my sufferings,
for I know you will not hold me innocent.

²⁹ I will be found guilty —
why then should I labor in vain?

³⁰ If I wash myself with snow
and cleanse my hands with lye,

³¹ yet you would plunge me into a pit,
and my own clothes would abhor me.

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

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 his terror frighten me.

³⁵ Then I would speak and not fear him —
but it is not so with me.