Job 9:1–10:22
Job Replies: There Is No Arbiter
9 Then Job answered and said:
2 “Truly I know that it is so:
But how can a man be zin the right before God?
3 If one wished to acontend with him,
one could not answer him once in a thousand times.
4 He is bwise in heart and mighty in strength
—who has chardened himself against him, and succeeded?—
5 he who removes mountains, and they know it not,
when he overturns them in his anger,
6 who dshakes the earth out of its place,
and eits pillars tremble;
7 who commands the sun, and it does not rise;
who seals up the stars;
8 who alone fstretched out the heavens
and trampled the waves of the sea;
9 who gmade hthe Bear and iOrion,
the Pleiades jand the chambers of the south;
10 who does kgreat things beyond searching out,
and marvelous things beyond number.
11 Behold, he passes by me, and I lsee him not;
he moves on, but I do not perceive him.
12 Behold, he snatches away; mwho can turn him back?
nWho will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’
13 “God will not turn back his anger;
beneath him bowed the helpers of oRahab.
14 pHow then can I qanswer him,
choosing my words with him?
15 rThough I am in the right, I cannot answer him;
I must sappeal for mercy to my accuser.1
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 twithout cause;
18 he will not let me get my breath,
but fills me with bitterness.
19 If it is a contest of ustrength, behold, he is mighty!
If it is a matter of justice, who can vsummon him?2
20 Though I am in the right, wmy own mouth would condemn me;
though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
21 I am xblameless; I regard not myself;
I yloathe my life.
22 It is all one; therefore I say,
‘He zdestroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
23 When adisaster brings sudden death,
he mocks at the calamity3 of the innocent.
24 bThe earth is given into the hand of the wicked;
he ccovers the faces of its judges—
dif it is not he, who then is it?
25 “My edays are swifter than fa runner;
they flee away; they see no good.
26 They go by like gskiffs of reed,
like han eagle swooping on the prey.
27 If I say, i‘I will forget my complaint,
I will put off my sad face, and jbe of good cheer,’
28 I become kafraid of all my suffering,
for I know you will not lhold me innocent.
29 I shall be mcondemned;
why then do I labor in vain?
and ncleanse my hands with lye,
31 yet you will plunge me into a pit,
and my own clothes will oabhor me.
32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him,
that we should pcome to trial together.
33 qThere is no4 arbiter between us,
who might lay his hand on us both.
34 rLet him take his srod away from me,
and let tnot dread of him terrify me.
35 Then I would speak without fear of him,
for I am not so in myself.
10 “I uloathe my life;
I will give free utterance to my vcomplaint;
I will speak in wthe bitterness of my soul.
2 I will say to God, Do not xcondemn me;
let me know why you ycontend against me.
3 zDoes it seem good to you to oppress,
to despise athe work of your hands
band favor the designs of the wicked?
4 Have you ceyes of flesh?
dDo you see as man sees?
5 Are your days as the days of man,
or your eyears as a man’s years,
6 that you fseek out my iniquity
and search for my sin,
7 although you gknow that I am not guilty,
and there is hnone to deliver out of your hand?
8 iYour hands fashioned and made me,
and now you have destroyed me altogether.
9 Remember that you have made me like jclay;
and will you return me to the kdust?
10 Did you not pour me out like milk
and curdle me like cheese?
11 You clothed me with skin and flesh,
and knit me together with bones and sinews.
12 You have granted me life and steadfast love,
and your care has preserved my spirit.
13 Yet these things you hid in your heart;
I know that lthis was your purpose.
14 If I sin, you mwatch me
and do not nacquit me of my iniquity.
15 oIf I am guilty, woe to me!
If I am pin the right, I cannot lift up my head,
for I am filled with disgrace
and qlook on my affliction.
16 And were my head lifted up,1 you would hunt me like ra lion
and again work swonders against me.
17 You renew your twitnesses against me
and increase your vexation toward me;
you ubring fresh troops against me.
18 v“Why did you bring me out from the womb?
Would that I had died before any eye had seen me
19 wand were as though I had not been,
carried from the womb to the grave.
20 xAre not my days few?
yThen cease, and leave me alone, zthat I may find a little cheer
21 before I go—and aI shall not return—
to the land of bdarkness and cdeep shadow,
22 the land of gloom like thick darkness,
like deep shadow without any order,
where light is as thick darkness.”