Job 9
1 Then Job replied,
And Job answered and said,
2 “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]
Of a truth I know it is so; but how can man be just with God?
3 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!
If he shall choose to strive with him, he cannot answer him one thing of a thousand.
4 God is very wise [IDM] and very powerful; no one who has tried to challenge God has been able to win.
He is wise in heart and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and had peace?
5 He even moves mountains, without them (OR, anyone) knowing about it. When he is angry, he turns them upside down.
Who removeth mountains, and they know it not, when he overturneth them in his anger;
6 He sends earthquakes that shake the ground; he causes the pillars that support the earth to tremble.
Who shaketh the earth out of its place, and the pillars thereof tremble;
7 [Some days] he speaks to the sun, and it does not rise, and [some nights] he prevents the stars from shining.
Who commandeth the sun, and it riseth not, and he sealeth up the stars;
8 He alone (stretched out/put in place) the sky; he alone puts his feet on the waves (OR, on the huge sea monster).
Who alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the high waves of the sea;
9 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.
Who maketh the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south;
10 Only he does great things that we cannot understand; he does more marvelous things than we are able to count.
Who doeth great things past finding out, and wonders without number.
11 He passes by where I am, but I do not see him; he moves further on, but I do not see him go.
Lo, he goeth by me, and I see [him] not; and he passeth along, and I perceive him not.
12 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]
Behold, he taketh away: who will hinder him? Who will say unto him, What doest thou?
13 God will not very easily stop being angry; he defeated [MTY] those who [tried to] help Rahab, [the great sea monster].
God withdraweth not his anger; the proud helpers stoop under him:
14 “So, [if God took me to court], what could I say [MTY] to answer him?
How much less shall I answer him, choose out my words [to strive] with him?
15 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.
Whom, though I were righteous, [yet] would I not answer; I would make supplication to my judge.
16 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.
If I had called, and he had answered me, I would not believe that he hearkened to my voice, —
17 He sends storms to batter me, and he bruises me many times (without any reason to do that/even though I am innocent).
He, who crusheth me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause.
18 [It is as though] he will not let me get/catch my breath, because he causes me to suffer all the time.
He suffereth me not to take my breath, for he filleth me with bitternesses.
19 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.
Be it a question of strength, lo, [he is] strong; and be it of judgment, who will set me a time?
20 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.
If I justified myself, mine own mouth would condemn me; were I perfect, he would prove me perverse.
21 “I have not done what is wrong, but that is not important. I despise continuing to remain alive.
Were I perfect, [yet] would I not know my soul: I would despise my life.
22 But it doesn’t matter, because God will get rid of [all of us, ] both those who are innocent and those who are wicked.
It is all one; therefore I said, he destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.
23 When people experience disaster and it causes them to suddenly die, God laughs at it, even if they are innocent.
If the scourge kill suddenly, he mocketh at the trial of the innocent.
24 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?
The earth is given over into the hand of the wicked [man]; he covereth the faces of its judges. If not, who then is it?
25 “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.
And my days are swifter than a runner: they flee away, they see no good.
26 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.
They pass by like skiffs of reed; as an eagle that swoops upon the prey.
27 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,’
If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my [sad] countenance, and brighten up,
28 then I become afraid because of all that I am suffering, because I know that God does not consider that I am innocent.
I am afraid of all my sorrows; I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent.
29 He will (condemn me/declare that I should be punished), so why should I keep trying in vain [to defend myself]?
Be it that I am wicked, why then do I labour in vain?
30 If I washed myself with snow or cleansed my hands with lye/soap [to get rid of my guilt],
If I washed myself with snow-water, and cleansed my hands in purity,
31 he would still throw me into a filthy pit; as a result [it would be as though] even my clothes would detest me.
Then wouldest thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes would abhor me.
32 “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].
For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him; that we should come together in judgment.
33 There is no one to (mediate/hear us and decide who is right), no one who has authority over both of us [IDM].
There is not an umpire between us, who should lay his hand upon us both.
34 I wish/desire that he would stop punishing [MTY] me, and that he would not continue to terrify me.
Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his terror make me afraid,
35 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].”
[Then] I will speak, and not fear him; but it is not so with me.
