Job 9
1 And Job answered, and said:
Then Job answered and said,
2 Indeed I know it is so, and that man cannot be justified compared with God.
I know of a truth that it is so: for how shall a mortal man be just before the Lord?
3 If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one for a thousand.
For if he would enter into judgment with him, [God] would not hearken to him, so that he should answer to one of his charges of a thousand.
4 He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath resisted him, and hath had peace?
For he is wise in mind, and mighty, and great: who has hardened himself against him and endured?
5 Who hath removed mountains, and they whom he overthrew in his wrath, knew it not.
Who wears out the mountains, and [men] know it not: who overturns them in anger.
6 Who shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.
Who shakes the [earth] under heaven from its foundations, and its pillars totter.
7 Who commandeth tile sun and it riseth not: and shutteth up the stars as it were under a seal:
Who commands the sun, and it rises not; and he seals up the stars.
8 Who alone spreadeth out the heavens, and walketh upon the waves of the sea.
Who alone has stretched out the heavens, and walks on the sea as on firm ground.
9 Who maketh Arcturus, and Orion, and Hyades, and the inner parts of the south.
Who makes Pleias, and Hesperus, and Arcturus, and the chambers of the south.
10 Who doth things great and incomprehensible, and wonderful, of which there is no number.
Who does great and unsearchable things; glorious also and excellent things, innumerable.
11 If he come to me, I shall not see him: if he depart I shall not understand.
If ever he should go beyond me, I shall not see him: if he should pass by me, neither thus have I known [it].
12 If he examine on a sudden, who shall answer him? or who can say: Why dost thou so?
If he would take away, who shall turn him back? or who shall say to him, What hast thou done?
13 God, whose wrath no mall can resist, and under whom they stoop that bear up the world.
For [if] he has turned away [his] anger, the whales under heaven have stooped under him.
14 What am I then, that I should answer him, and have words with him?
Oh then that he would hearken to me, or judge my cause.
15 I, who although I should have any just thing, would not answer, but would make supplication to my judge.
For though I be righteous, he will not hearken to me: I will intreat his judgment.
16 And if he should hear me when I call, I should not believe that he had heard my voice.
And if I should call and he should not hearken, I cannot believe that he has listened to my voice.
17 For he shall crush me in a whirlwind, and multiply my wounds even without cause.
Let him not crush me with a dark storm: but he has made by bruises many without cause.
18 He alloweth not my spirit to rest, and he filleth me with bitterness.
For he suffers me not to take breath, but he has filled me with bitterness.
19 If strength be demanded, he is most strong: if equity of judgment, no man dare bear witness for me.
For indeed he is strong in power: who then shall resist his judgment?
20 If I would justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me: if I would shew myself innocent, he shall prove me wicked.
For though I should seem righteous, my mouth will be profane: and though I should seem blameless, I shall be proved perverse.
21 Although I should be simple, even this my soul shall be ignorant of, and I shall be weary of my life.
For even if I have sinned, I know it not [in] my soul: but my life is taken away.
22 One thing there is that I have spoken, both the innocent and the wicked he consumeth.
Wherefore I said, Wrath slays the great and mighty man.
23 If he scourge, let him kill at once, and not laugh at the pains of the innocent.
For the worthless die, but the righteous are laughed to scorn.
24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked, he covereth the face of the judges thereof: and if it be not he, who is it then?
For they are delivered into the hands of the unrighteous [man]: he covers the faces of the judges [of the earth]: but if it be not he, who is it?
25 My days have been swifter than a post: they have fled away and have not seen good.
But my life is swifter than a post: [my days] have fled away, and they knew it not.
26 They have passed by as ships carrying fruits, as an eagle flying to the prey.
Or again, is there a trace of [their] path [left] by ships? or is there one of the flying eagle as it seeks [its] prey?
27 If I say: I will not speak so: I change my face, and am tormented with sorrow.
And if I should say, I will forget to speak, I will bow down my face and groan;
28 I feared all my works, knowing that thou didst not spare the offender.
I quake in all my limbs, for I know that thou wilt not leave me alone [as] innocent.
29 But if so also I am wicked, why have I laboured in vain?
But since I am ungodly, why have I not died?
30 If I be washed as it were with snow waters, and my hands shall shine ever so clean:
For if I should wash myself with snow, and purge myself with pure hands,
31 Yet thou shalt plunge me in filth, and my garments shall abhor me,
thou hadst thoroughly plunged me in filth, and my garment had abhorred me.
32 For I shall not answer a man that is like myself: nor one that may be heard with me equally in judgment.
For thou art not man like me, with whom I could contend, that we might come together to judgment.
33 There is none that may be able to reprove both, and to put his hand between both.
Would that [he] our mediator were [present], and a reprover, and one who should hear [the cause] between both.
34 Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his fear terrify me.
Let him remove [his] rod from me, and let not his fear terrify me:
35 I will speak, and will not fear him: for I cannot answer while I am in fear.
so shall I not be afraid, but I will speak: for I am not thus conscious [of guilt].
