THE BOOK OF JOB

 

Job Chapter 9

1 ¶ Then Job answered and said,

2 Yes I know it is true: but how can man be just before God?

3 If he wants to argue with him, he could not answer one question in a thousand.

4 God is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who has hardened himself against him, and prospered?

5 Who removes mountains, and they do not know it: who overturns them in his anger.

6 Who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble.

7 Who commands the sun, and it does not rise; and seals up the stars.

8 Who alone spreads out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea.

9 Who makes Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the places of the stars of the south.

10 Who does great things that we could never understand; yes, and wonders without number.

11 Lo, he passes by me, but I do not see him: he goes on, but I do not perceive him.

12 When he takes anything away, who can stop him? who will say to him, What are you doing?

13 God will not withdraw his anger, the servants of pride fall down before him.

14 ¶ How much less can I answer him, and choose the right words to reason with him?

15 Whom, even though I were in the right, I would not answer, but would plead with him as my judge.

16 If I called, and he answered me; I do not believe that he would listen to me.

17 He would crush me in a storm, and give me many wounds without reason.

18 He will not allow me to catch my breath, but fills me with bitterness.

19 If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong: and if of judgment, who will appoint me a time to plead?

20 If I justify myself, my own mouth condemns me: if I say, I am perfect, it declares me to be perverse.

21 Though I am blameless, I no longer care about myself: I despise my life.

22 ¶ It is all the same, therefore I say, He destroys the blameless and the wicked.

23 When disaster brings sudden death, he laughs at the trial of the innocent.

24 The land is turned over to the wicked: he blindfolds its judges; if not, who does?

25 ¶ Now my days are swifter than a runner: they fly by, and see no good.

26 They pass by like swift boats: like the eagle that swoops down on its prey.

27 If I say, I will forget my grief, I will put off my sadness, and comfort myself:

28 I become afraid of all my pains, for I know that you will not pronounce me innocent.

29 If I am wicked, why do I labor in vain?

30 If I wash myself with melted snow, and cleanse my hands with lye;

31 Yet you will plunge me into the ditch, and my own clothes would abhor me.

32 For God is not a man, as I am, that I can answer him, or that we could meet in court.

33 Nor is there anyone to judge between us, who might lay his hand on both of us.

34 Let him remove his rod from me, and let the fear of him stop terrifying me:

35 Then I would speak, without fearing him; but that is not the way it is.