Job 9

1Then Job answered: 2Yes, I know that it is so; but how can a mortal be in the right before God? 3If someone wished to argue a case with him, they could not answer him once in a thousand times. 4He is wise in heart and mighty in strength; who has ever defied him and come away unharmed? 5He moves mountains before they know it, and overturns them in his anger. 6He shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble. 7He speaks to the sun, and it does not rise; he puts the stars under seal. 8By himself he stretched out the heavens, and he treads on the waves of the sea. 9He made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades, and the star clusters of the south. 10He does great things too deep to search out, and wonders too many to count. 11If he passes by me, I do not see him; if he moves on, I cannot perceive him. 12If he snatches something away, who can stop him? Who can say to him, “What are you doing?” 13God does not hold back his anger; the helpers of Rahab bowed down beneath him. 14How then could I answer him, or choose my words to argue with him? 15Even if I were in the right, I could not answer him; I would have to beg my judge for mercy. 16If I called and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to me. 17He would crush me with a storm and multiply my wounds for no reason. 18He would not let me catch my breath, but would fill me with bitterness. 19If it is a matter of strength, look, he is the mighty one! If it is a matter of justice, he says, “Who can summon me?” 20Even if I were in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, it would prove me crooked. 21I am blameless, yet I no longer care about myself; I loathe my life. 22It is all the same; that is why I say, “He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.” 23When a disaster brings sudden death, he mocks at the despair of the innocent. 24The earth is handed over to the wicked; he blindfolds its judges. If it is not he, then who is it? 25My days go by faster than a runner; they slip away without seeing anything good. 26They glide past like boats made of reeds, like an eagle swooping down on its prey. 27If I say, “I will forget my complaint; I will put away my sad face and smile,” 28I am still afraid of all my pains, for I know you will not declare me innocent. 29I am going to be found guilty anyway; why then should I struggle in vain? 30Even if I washed myself with snow and cleaned my hands with lye, 31even then you would plunge me into a filthy pit, so that my own clothes would loathe me. 32For he is not a human being like me, that I could answer him, that we could go to court together. 33There is no one to judge between us, who could lay his hand on us both. 34Let him take his rod off me, and let the dread of him no longer terrify me; 35then I would speak without fear of him. But as things are with me, I cannot.