Job 9:8–35

⁸who alone ^fstretched out the heavens

and trampled the waves of the sea;

⁹who ^gmade ^hthe Bear and ⁱOrion,

the Pleiades ^jand the chambers of the south;

¹⁰who does ^kgreat things beyond searching out,

and marvelous things beyond number.

¹¹Behold, he passes by me, and I ^lsee him not;

he moves on, but I do not perceive him.

¹²Behold, 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.

^14pHow then can I ^qanswer him,

choosing my words with him?

^15rThough I am in the right, I cannot answer him;

I must ^sappeal for mercy to my accuser.¹

¹⁶If I summoned him and he answered me,

I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.

¹⁷For he crushes me with a tempest

and multiplies my wounds ^twithout cause;

¹⁸he will not let me get my breath,

but fills me with bitterness.

¹⁹If it is a contest of ^ustrength, behold, he is mighty!

If it is a matter of justice, who can ^vsummon him?²

²⁰Though I am in the right, ^wmy own mouth would condemn me;

though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.

²¹I am ^xblameless; I regard not myself;

I ^yloathe my life.

²²It is all one; therefore I say,

‘He ^zdestroys both the blameless and the wicked.’

²³When ^adisaster brings sudden death,

he mocks at the calamity³ of the innocent.

^24bThe 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.

²⁶They go by like ^gskiffs of reed,

like ^han eagle swooping on the prey.

²⁷If I say, ⁱ‘I will forget my complaint,

I will put off my sad face, and ^jbe of good cheer,’

²⁸I become ^kafraid of all my suffering,

for I know you will not ^lhold me innocent.

²⁹I shall be ^mcondemned;

why then do I labor in vain?

³⁰If I wash myself with snow

and ⁿcleanse my hands with lye,

³¹yet you will plunge me into a pit,

and my own clothes will ^oabhor me.

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

that we should ^pcome to trial together.

^33qThere is no⁴ arbiter between us,

who might lay his hand on us both.

^34rLet him take his ^srod away from me,

and let ^tnot dread of him terrify me.

³⁵Then I would speak without fear of him,

for I am not so in myself.