Job 9
1 Then Job answered:
Then Job replied,
2 “Yes, I know that it is so, but how can a mortal be righteous before God?
“Yes, I certainly know that [much of] what you said is true. But (how can anyone say to God, ‘I (am innocent/have not done what is wrong) and prove it?’/no one can say to God ‘I (am innocent/have not done what is wrong) and prove it.’) [RHQ]
3 If one wished to contend with God, he could not answer Him one time out of a thousand.
If someone wanted to argue with God [about that], God could ask him 1,000 questions, and that person would not be able to answer any of them!
4 God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has resisted Him and prospered?
God is very wise [IDM] and very powerful; no one who has tried to challenge God has been able to win.
5 He moves mountains without their knowledge and overturns them in His anger.
He even moves mountains, without them (OR, anyone) knowing about it. When he is angry, he turns them upside down.
6 He shakes the earth from its place, so that its foundations tremble.
He sends earthquakes that shake the ground; he causes the pillars that support the earth to tremble.
7 He commands the sun not to shine; He seals off the stars.
[Some days] he speaks to the sun, and it does not rise, and [some nights] he prevents the stars from shining.
8 He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea.
He alone (stretched out/put in place) the sky; he alone puts his feet on the waves (OR, on the huge sea monster).
9 He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion, of the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.
He put in their places [the clusters/groups of stars that are called] The Dipper/Bear, Orion, the Pleiades, and the stars in the southern sky.
10 He does great things beyond searching out, and wonders without number.
Only he does great things that we cannot understand; he does more marvelous things than we are able to count.
11 Were He to pass by me, I would not see Him; were He to move, I would not recognize Him.
He passes by where I am, but I do not see him; he moves further on, but I do not see him go.
12 If He takes away, who can stop Him? Who dares to ask Him, ‘What are You doing?’
If he [wants to] snatch something away, no one [RHQ] can hinder him; no one dares to ask him, ‘Why are you doing that?’ [RHQ]
13 God does not restrain His anger; the helpers of Rahab cower beneath Him.
God will not very easily stop being angry; he defeated [MTY] those who [tried to] help Rahab, [the great sea monster].
14 How then can I answer Him or choose my arguments against Him?
“So, [if God took me to court], what could I say [MTY] to answer him?
15 For even if I were right, I could not answer. I could only beg my Judge for mercy.
Even though I (would be innocent/would not have done what is wrong), I would not be able to answer him. All I could do would be to request God, my judge/accuser, to act mercifully toward me.
16 If I summoned Him and He answered me, I do not believe He would listen to my voice.
If I summoned him to [come to the courtroom] and he said that he would come, I would not believe that he would pay attention to what I would say.
17 For He would crush me with a tempest and multiply my wounds without cause.
He sends storms to batter me, and he bruises me many times (without any reason to do that/even though I am innocent).
18 He does not let me catch my breath, but overwhelms me with bitterness.
[It is as though] he will not let me get/catch my breath, because he causes me to suffer all the time.
19 If it is a matter of strength, He is indeed mighty! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon Him?
If I would try to (wrestle with/fight against) him, [there is no way that I could defeat him, ] [because] he is stronger than I am. If I would request him to appear in court, there is no one who could [RHQ] force him to go there.
20 Even if I were righteous, my mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, it would declare me guilty.
Even though I was innocent, what I would say would cause him to say that I must be punished [MTY]; even though I had not done anything wrong, he would prove that I am guilty.
21 Though I am blameless, I have no concern for myself; I despise my own life.
“I have not done what is wrong, but that is not important. I despise continuing to remain alive.
22 It is all the same, and so I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
But it doesn’t matter, because God will get rid of [all of us, ] both those who are innocent and those who are wicked.
23 When the scourge brings sudden death, He mocks the despair of the innocent.
When people experience disaster and it causes them to suddenly die, God laughs at it, even if they are innocent.
24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; He blindfolds its judges. If it is not He, then who is it?
God has allowed wicked people to control [what happens in] the world. [It is as though] he has caused judges to be blindfolded, [with the result that they cannot judge fairly]. If it is not God who has put wicked people in control, who has done it?
25 My days are swifter than a runner; they flee without seeing good.
“My days go by very quickly, like a fast runner; [it is as though] they run away, and nothing good happens to me on those days.
26 They sweep by like boats of papyrus, like an eagle swooping down on its prey.
My life goes by very rapidly, like a boat made from reeds sailing swiftly, or like an eagle that swoops down to seize a small animal.
27 If I were to say, ‘I will forget my complaint and change my expression and smile,’
If I smile and say [to God], ‘I will forget what I am complaining about; I will stop looking sad and try to be cheerful/happy,’
28 I would still dread all my sufferings; I know that You will not acquit me.
then I become afraid because of all that I am suffering, because I know that God does not consider that I am innocent.
29 Since I am already found guilty, why should I labor in vain?
He will (condemn me/declare that I should be punished), so why should I keep trying in vain [to defend myself]?
30 If I should wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye,
If I washed myself with snow or cleansed my hands with lye/soap [to get rid of my guilt],
31 then You would plunge me into the pit, and even my own clothes would despise me.
he would still throw me into a filthy pit; as a result [it would be as though] even my clothes would detest me.
32 For He is not a man like me, that I can answer Him, that we can take each other to court.
“God is not a human, as I am, so there is no way that I could answer him [to prove that I am innocent] if we went together to have a trial [in a courtroom].
33 Nor is there a mediator between us, to lay his hand upon us both.
There is no one to (mediate/hear us and decide who is right), no one who has authority over both of us [IDM].
34 Let Him remove His rod from me, so that His terror will no longer frighten me.
I wish/desire that he would stop punishing [MTY] me, and that he would not continue to terrify me.
35 Then I would speak without fear of Him. But as it is, I am on my own.
If he did that, I would declare [that I am innocent] without being afraid of him, because I know that I really have not [done what is wrong like God thinks that I have].”
