Job 9 - ESV Bible - Then Job answered and said: "Truly I know that it...

1 Then Job answered and said:

2 "Truly I know that it is so: But how can a man be ¹in the right before God?

3 If one wished to ²contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times.

4 He is ³wise in heart and mighty in strength --who has ⁴hardened himself against him, and succeeded?--

5 he who removes mountains, and they know it not, when he overturns them in his anger,

6 who ⁵shakes the earth out of its place, and ⁶its pillars tremble;

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

8 who alone ⁷stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea;

9 who ⁸made ⁹the Bear and ¹⁰Orion, the Pleiades ¹¹and the chambers of the south;

10 who does ¹²great things beyond searching out, and marvelous things beyond number.

11 Behold, he passes by me, and I ¹³see him not; he moves on, but I do not perceive him.

12 Behold, he snatches away; ¹⁴who can turn him back? ¹⁵Who will say to him, 'What are you doing?'

13 "God will not turn back his anger; beneath him bowed the helpers of ¹⁶Rahab.

14 ¹⁷How then can I ¹⁸answer him, choosing my words with him?

15 ¹⁹Though I am in the right, I cannot answer him; I must ²⁰appeal for mercy to my accuser.^a

16 If I summoned him and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.

17 For he crushes me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds ²¹without cause;

18 he will not let me get my breath, but fills me with bitterness.

19 If it is a contest of ²²strength, behold, he is mighty! If it is a matter of justice, who can ²³summon him?^b

20 Though I am in the right, ²⁴my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.

21 I am ²⁵blameless; I regard not myself; I ²⁶loathe my life.

22 It is all one; therefore I say, He ²⁷destroys both the blameless and the wicked.

23 When ²⁸disaster brings sudden death, he mocks at the calamity^c of the innocent.

24 ²⁹The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he ³⁰covers the faces of its judges-- ³¹if it is not he, who then is it?

25 "My ³²days are swifter than ³³a runner; they flee away; they see no good.

26 They go by like ³⁴skiffs of reed, like ³⁵an eagle swooping on the prey.

27 If I say, ³⁶'I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face, and ³⁷be of good cheer,'

28 I become ³⁸afraid of all my suffering, for I know you will not ³⁹hold me innocent.

29 I shall be ⁴⁰condemned; why then do I labor in vain?

30 If I wash myself with snow and ⁴¹cleanse my hands with lye,

31 yet you will plunge me into a pit, and my own clothes will ⁴²abhor me.

32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should ⁴³come to trial together.

33 ⁴⁴There is no^d arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both.

34 ⁴⁵Let him take his ⁴⁶rod away from me, and let ⁴⁷not dread of him terrify me.

35 Then I would speak without fear of him, for I am not so in myself.

Job 9 ESV