JOB’S REPLY TO BILDAD

9 Then Job answered:

2 Yes, I know what you’ve said is true,

but how can a person be justified before God?ac

3 If one wanted to takead him to court,

he could not answer GodA once in a thousand times.a

4 God is wiseb and all-powerful.

Who has opposed him and come out unharmed?

5 He removes mountains without their knowledge,

overturning them in his anger.c

6 He shakes the earth from its place

so that its pillars tremble.

7 He commands the sun not to shine

and seals off the stars.d

8 He alone stretches out the heavense

and treads on the waves of the sea.B

9 He makes the stars: the Bear,C Orion,

the Pleiades,f and the constellationsD of the southern sky.

10 He does great and unsearchable things,

wonders without number.g

11 If he passed by me, I wouldn’t see him;h

if he went by, I wouldn’t recognize him.

12 If he snatches something, who can stopE him?

Who can ask him, “What are you doing?”i

13 God does not hold back his anger;

Rahab’sj assistants cringe in fear beneath him!

14 How then can I answer him

or choose my arguments against him?

15 Even if I were in the right, I could not answer.

I could only beg my Judge for mercy.k

16 If I summoned him and he answered me,

I do not believe he would pay attention to what I said.

17 He batters me with a whirlwindl

and multiplies my wounds without cause.

18 He doesn’t let me catch my breath

but fills me with bitter experiences.

19 If it is a matter of strength, look, he is the powerful one!m

If it is a matter of justice, who can summonn him?F

20 Even if I were in the right, my own mouth would condemn me;o

if I were blameless, my mouth would declare me guilty.

21 Though I am blameless,

I no longer care about myself;

I renounce my life.p

22 It is all the same. Therefore I say,

“He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.”q

23 When catastropheG brings sudden death,

he mocks the despair of the innocent.

24 The earthH is handed over to the wicked;

he blindfoldsI its judges.r

If it isn’t he, then who is it?

25 My days fly by faster than a runner;J,s

they flee without seeing any good.t

26 They sweep by like boats made of papyrus,

like an eagle swooping down on its prey.u

27 If I said, “I will forget my complaint,

change my expression, and smile,”

28 I would still live in terror of all my pains.v

I know you will not acquit me.w

29 Since I will be found guilty,x

why should I struggle in vain?

30 If I wash myself with snow,

and cleanse my hands with lye,

31 then you dip me in a pit of mud,

and my own clothes despise me!

32 For he is not a man like me, that I can answer him,y

that we can take each other to court.

33 There is no mediator between us,

to lay his hand on both of us.

34 Let him take his rod away from me

so his terror will no longer frighten me.z

35 Then I would speak and not fear him.

But that is not the case; I am on my own.