Job 9

9Then Job answered and said,

²Of a truth I know that it is so:

But how can man be just with God?

³If he be pleased to contend with him,

He cannot answer him one of a thousand.

⁴He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength:

Who hath hardened himself against him, and prospered?—

⁵Him that removeth the mountains, and they know it not,

When he overturneth them in his anger;

⁶That shaketh the earth out of its place,

And the pillars thereof tremble;

⁷That commandeth the sun, and it riseth not,

And sealeth up the stars;

⁸That alone stretcheth out the heavens,

And treadeth upon the waves of the sea;

⁹That maketh the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades,

And the chambers of the south;

¹⁰That doeth great things past finding out,

Yea, marvellous things without number.

¹¹Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not:

He passeth on also, but I perceive him not.

¹²Behold, he seizeth the prey, who can hinder him?

Who will say unto him, What doest thou?

¹³God will not withdraw his anger;

The helpers of Rahab do stoop under him.

¹⁴How much less shall I answer him,

And choose out my words to reason with him?

¹⁵Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer;

I would make supplication to my judge.

¹⁶If I had called, and he had answered me,

Yet would I not believe that he hearkened unto my voice.

¹⁷For he breaketh me with a tempest,

And multiplieth my wounds without cause.

¹⁸He will not suffer me to take my breath,

But filleth me with bitterness.

¹⁹If we speak of strength, lo, he is mighty!

And if of justice, Who, saith he, will summon me?

²⁰Though I be righteous, mine own mouth shall condemn me:

Though I be perfect, it shall prove me perverse.

²¹I am perfect; I regard not myself;

I despise my life.

²²It is all one; therefore I say,

He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.

²³If the scourge slay suddenly,

He will mock at the trial of the innocent.

²⁴The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;

He covereth the faces of the judges thereof:

If it be not he, who then is it?

²⁵Now my days are swifter than a post:

They flee away, they see no good,

²⁶They are passed away as the swift ships;

As the eagle that swoopeth on the prey.

²⁷If I say, I will forget my complaint,

I will put off my sad countenance, and be of good cheer;

²⁸I am afraid of all my sorrows,

I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent.

²⁹I shall be condemned;

Why then do I labor in vain?

³⁰If I wash myself with snow water,

And make my hands never so clean;

³¹Yet wilt thou plunge me in the ditch,

And mine own clothes shall abhor me.

³²For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him,

That we should come together in judgment.

³³There is no umpire betwixt us,

That might lay his hand upon us both.

³⁴Let him take his rod away from me,

And let not his terror make me afraid:

³⁵Then would I speak, and not fear him;

For I am not so in myself.