Job 9:5-35 ▼

5 |He removes mountains without their knowledge, overthrowing them in his anger.

6 He shakes the earth from its orbit, so that its foundations shudder.

7 He commands the sun so that it doesn't shine and seals up the stars.

8 He alone spreads out the heavens, he walks on the waves of the sea.

9 He created Bear, Orion, the Pleiades, and the southern constellations.

10 He does great things that cannot be explained, and awesome deeds that cannot be counted.

11 |If he were to pass near me, I wouldn't notice; if he moves by, I wouldn't perceive him.

12 Indeed, if he snatches someone away, who could restrain him? Who can say to him, 'What are you doing?'

13 |God doesn't restrain his anger. Rahab's assistants are humiliated under him.

14 So how am I to answer him, choosing what I am to say to him?

15 Even if I'm in the right, I cannot answer him. I can only appeal for mercy.

16 |Were I to be summoned, and he were to answer me, I wouldn't even believe that he was listening to what I have to say.

17 For he crushes me with a storm, and keeps on wounding me for no reason.

18 He won't let me catch my breath; instead, he fills me with bitterness.

19 |Is this a contest of strength? He is obviously stronger! Is this a matter of justice? Who can sue him?

20 Though I'm in the right, my own mouth will condemn me; though I'm blameless, he'll pronounce me as guilty.

21 |I'm blameless; I don't know myself; I despise my life.

22 I say it's all the same— he destroys both the blameless and the guilty.

23 If a calamity causes sudden death, he'll mock at the despair of the innocent.

24 A land is given into the hands of a wicked person; he covers the faces of its judges. If it is not God, then who is it?|

25 |My days pass faster than a runner; but they pass quickly without seeing anything good.

26 They pass by like a ship made of reeds, like an eagle swooping down on its prey.

27 If I were to say, 'Let me forget my complaint,' change the expression on my face, and look cheerful,

28 then I still dread all of my suffering; I know you still won't acquit me.

29 I will be condemned, so why should I wear myself out with this futility?

30 |If I wash myself with water from snow, and cleanse my hands with lye,

31 you'll still drop me into the Pit, and my own clothes will despise me.

32 He's not a man like me, so that I can answer him, or that we can enter into litigation with one another.

33 There is not yet a mediator between us, who would set his hand on the two of us,

34 removing his rod from me, and not letting terror of him overwhelm me.

35 Otherwise, I would speak without being terrified of him, because I'm not like that inside myself.|