Job 9

Job’s Third Speech: A Response to Bildad

9Then^a Job answered and said,

²“Truly I know that it is so,

but^b how can a human being be just before God?

³If he wants to contend with him,

he cannot answer him one time in a thousand.

⁴He is wise in^c heart and mighty in^d strength;

who has resisted him and succeeded?^e

⁵“He is the one who moves mountains, and they do not know how,

who overturns them in his anger.

⁶He is the one who shakes the earth from its place,

and its pillars tremble.

⁷He is the one who commands the sun, and it does not rise,

and he seals up the stars.^f

⁸He is the one who alone stretches out the heavens

and who tramples on the waves of the sea.

⁹He is the one who made the Bear and Orion,

the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.

¹⁰He is the one who does great things beyond understanding^g

and marvelous things beyond number.^h

¹¹“Ifⁱ he passes by me, I would not see him;^j

and if he should move on, I would not recognize him.^k

¹²If^l he would snatch away, who could turn him?

Who could say to him, ‘What are you doing?’

¹³God will not turn back his anger;

beneath him the helpers of Rahab bow.

¹⁴How much less^m can I myselfⁿ answer him?

How can I choose my words with him,

¹⁵whom I cannot answer, even though I am righteous?

From^o my judge I must implore grace.

¹⁶If I summon him, and he should answer me,

I do not believe that he will listen to my voice—

¹⁷who crushes me with a tempest

and multiplies^p my wounds without cause.

¹⁸He will not allow me to catch^q my breath;

rather, he will fill me with bitterness.

¹⁹If it is a matter of^r strength, look, he is mighty.

But^s if it is a matter of^t justice, who can summon me?^u

²⁰Even though I am righteous, my mouth will condemn me;

even though I am blameless, yet^v it would pronounce me guilty.

²¹“I am blameless; I do not care about myself;^w

I loathe my life.

²²It is all one; therefore I say,

‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’

²³When the whip^x kills suddenly,

he mocks at the despair of the innocent.

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

he covers the face of its judge—

if it is not he, then who is it?

²⁵“And my days are swifter than a runner;

they flee away; they do not see good.

²⁶They go by like papyrus skiffs,

like an eagle swoops down on its prey.

²⁷Though^y I say,^z ‘I will forget my complaint;

I will change my expression, and I will rejoice,’

²⁸I become afraid of all my sufferings;

I know that you do not consider me innocent.

²⁹If I shall be declared guilty,

why then should I labor in vain?

³⁰If I wash myself with soap,^a

and I cleanse my hands with lye,

³¹then you plunge me into the slime pit,

and my clothes abhor me.

³²“For^b he is not a mortal like me that I can answer him,

that we can come to trial together.^c

³³There is no arbiter between us

that he might lay his hand on both of us.

³⁴May he remove his rod from me,

and let his dread not terrify me;

³⁵then I would speak and not fear him,^d

for in myself I am not fearful.^e