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]
Indeed I know it is so, and that man cannot be justified compared 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 will contend with him, he cannot answer him one for 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 resisted him, and hath had peace?
5 He even moves mountains, without them (OR, anyone) knowing about it. When he is angry, he turns them upside down.
Who hath removed mountains, and they whom he overthrew in his wrath, knew it not.
6 He sends earthquakes that shake the ground; he causes the pillars that support the earth to tremble.
Who shaketh the earth out of her 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 tile sun and it riseth not: and shutteth up the stars as it were under a seal:
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 walketh upon the 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 Arcturus, and Orion, and Hyades, and the inner parts 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 doth things great and incomprehensible, and wonderful, of which there is no 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.
If he come to me, I shall not see him: if he depart I shall not understand.
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]
If he examine on a sudden, who shall answer him? or who can say: Why dost thou so?
13 God will not very easily stop being angry; he defeated [MTY] those who [tried to] help Rahab, [the great sea monster].
God, whose wrath no mall can resist, and under whom they stoop that bear up the world.
14 “So, [if God took me to court], what could I say [MTY] to answer him?
What am I then, that I should answer him, and have words 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.
I, who although I should have any just thing, would not answer, but 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.
And if he should hear me when I call, I should not believe that he had heard 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).
For he shall crush me in a whirlwind, and multiply my wounds even 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 alloweth not my spirit to rest, and he filleth me with bitterness.
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.
If strength be demanded, he is most strong: if equity of judgment, no man dare bear witness for me.
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 would justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me: if I would shew myself innocent, he shall prove me wicked.
21 “I have not done what is wrong, but that is not important. I despise continuing to remain alive.
Although I should be simple, even this my soul shall be ignorant of, and I shall be weary of 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.
One thing there is that I have spoken, both the innocent and the wicked he consumeth.
23 When people experience disaster and it causes them to suddenly die, God laughs at it, even if they are innocent.
If he scourge, let him kill at once, and not laugh at the pains 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 into the hand of the wicked, he covereth the face of the judges thereof: and if it be not he, who is it then?
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.
My days have been swifter than a post: they have fled away and have not seen 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 have passed by as ships carrying fruits, as an eagle flying to 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 not speak so: I change my face, and am tormented with sorrow.
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 feared all my works, knowing that thou didst not spare the offender.
29 He will (condemn me/declare that I should be punished), so why should I keep trying in vain [to defend myself]?
But if so also I am wicked, why have I laboured in vain?
30 If I washed myself with snow or cleansed my hands with lye/soap [to get rid of my guilt],
If I be washed as it were with snow waters, and my hands shall shine ever so clean:
31 he would still throw me into a filthy pit; as a result [it would be as though] even my clothes would detest me.
Yet thou shalt plunge me in filth, and my garments shall 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 I shall not answer a man that is like myself: nor one that may be heard with me equally 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 none that may be able to reprove both, and to put his hand between 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 fear terrify me.
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].”
I will speak, and will not fear him: for I cannot answer while I am in fear.
