Job 9
1 Then Job answered and said,
Then Job replied,
2 I know of a truth that it is so: for how shall a mortal man be just before the Lord?
“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 For if he would enter into judgment with him, [God] would not listen to him, so that he should answer to one of his charges 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 For he is wise in mind, and mighty, and great: who has hardened himself against him and endured?
God is very wise [IDM] and very powerful; no one who has tried to challenge God has been able to win.
5 Who wears out the mountains, and [men] know it not: who overturns them in anger.
He even moves mountains, without them (OR, anyone) knowing about it. When he is angry, he turns them upside down.
6 Who shakes the [earth] under heaven from its foundations, and its pillars totter.
He sends earthquakes that shake the ground; he causes the pillars that support the earth to tremble.
7 Who commands the sun, and it rises not; and he seals up the stars.
[Some days] he speaks to the sun, and it does not rise, and [some nights] he prevents the stars from shining.
8 Who alone has stretched out the heavens, and walks on the sea as on firm ground.
He alone (stretched out/put in place) the sky; he alone puts his feet on the waves (OR, on the huge sea monster).
9 Who makes Pleias, and Hesperus, and Arcturus, and the chambers 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 Who does great and unsearchable things; glorious also and excellent things, innumerable.
Only he does great things that we cannot understand; he does more marvelous things than we are able to count.
11 If ever he should go beyond me, I shall not see him: if he should pass by me, neither thus have I known [it].
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 would take away, who shall turn him back? or who shall say to him, What have you done?
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 For [if] he has turned away [his] anger, the whales under heaven have stooped under him.
God will not very easily stop being angry; he defeated [MTY] those who [tried to] help Rahab, [the great sea monster].
14 Oh then that he would listen to me, or judge my cause.
“So, [if God took me to court], what could I say [MTY] to answer him?
15 For though I be righteous, he will not listen to me: I will entreat his judgment.
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 And if I should call and he should not listen, I can’t believe that he has listened 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 Let him not crush me with a dark storm: but he has made by bruises many 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 For he suffers me not to take breath, but he has filled 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 For indeed he is strong in power: who then shall resist his judgment?
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 For though I should seem righteous, my mouth will be profane: and though I should seem blameless, I shall be proved perverse.
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 For even if I have sinned, I know it not [in] my soul: but my life is taken away.
“I have not done what is wrong, but that is not important. I despise continuing to remain alive.
22 Therefore I said, Wrath slays the great and mighty man.
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 For the worthless die, but the righteous are laughed to scorn.
When people experience disaster and it causes them to suddenly die, God laughs at it, even if they are innocent.
24 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?
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 But my life is swifter than a post: [my days] have fled away, and they knew it not.
“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 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?
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 And if I should say, I will forget to speak, I will bow down my face and groan;
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 quake in all my limbs, for I know that you will not leave me alone [as] innocent.
then I become afraid because of all that I am suffering, because I know that God does not consider that I am innocent.
29 But since I am ungodly, why have I not died?
He will (condemn me/declare that I should be punished), so why should I keep trying in vain [to defend myself]?
30 For if I should wash myself with snow, and purge myself with pure hands,
If I washed myself with snow or cleansed my hands with lye/soap [to get rid of my guilt],
31 you had thoroughly plunged me in filth, and my garment had abhorred 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 you are not man like me, with whom I could contend, that we might come together to judgment.
“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 Would that [he] our mediator were [present], and a reprover, and one who should hear [the cause] between 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, and let not his fear terrify me:
I wish/desire that he would stop punishing [MTY] me, and that he would not continue to terrify me.
35 so shall I not be afraid, but I will speak: for I am not thus conscious [of guilt].
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].”
