Job 9
Complete Jewish Bible
9 Then Iyov responded:
2 “Indeed, I know that this is so;
but how can a human win a case against God?
3 Whoever might want to argue with him
could not answer him one [question] in a thousand.
4 His heart is so wise, his strength so great —
who can resist him and succeed?
5 “He moves the mountains, although they don’t know it,
when he overturns them in his anger.
6 He shakes the earth from its place;
its supporting pillars tremble.
7 He commands the sun, and it fails to rise;
he shuts up the stars under his seal.
8 He alone spreads out the sky
and walks on the waves in the sea.
9 He made the Great Bear, Orion, the Pleiades
and the hidden constellations of the south.
10 He does great, unsearchable things,
wonders beyond counting.
11 He can go right by me, and I don’t see him;
he moves past without my being aware of him.
12 If he kills [people], who will ask why?
Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’
13 God will not withdraw his anger —
even Rahav’s supporters submit to him.
14 “How much less can I answer him
and select my arguments against him!
15 Even if I were right, I wouldn’t answer;
I could only ask for mercy from my judge.
16 If I summoned him, and he answered me,
I still can’t believe he would listen to my plea.
17 He could break me with a storm;
he could multiply my wounds for no reason,
18 to the point where I couldn’t even breathe —
with such bitterness he could fill me!
19 If it’s a matter of force, look how mighty he is;
if justice, who can summon him to court?
20 Even if I’m right, my own mouth will condemn me;
if I’m innocent, it would pronounce me guilty.
21 “I am innocent. Don’t I know myself?
But I’ve had enough of this life of mine!
22 So I say it’s all the same —
he destroys innocent and wicked alike.
23 When disaster brings sudden death,
he laughs at the plight of the innocent.
24 The earth has been given to the power of the wicked;
he covers the faces of its judges —
if it isn’t he, then who is it?
25 My days pass on more swiftly than a runner;
they flee without seeing anything good.
26 They skim by like skiffs built of reeds,
like an eagle swooping down on its prey.
27 “If I say, ‘I’ll forget my complaining,
I’ll put off my sad face and be cheerful,’
28 then I’m still afraid of all my pain,
and I know you will not hold me innocent.
29 I will be condemned,
so why waste my efforts?
30 Even if I washed myself in melted snow
and cleansed my hands with lye,
31 you would plunge me into the muddy pit,
till my own clothes would detest me.
32 “For he is not merely human like me;
there is no answer that I could give him
if we were to come together in court.
33 There is no arbitrator between us
who could lay his hand on us both.
34 If he would remove his rod from me
and not let his terrors frighten me,
35 then I would speak without fear of him;
for when I’m alone, I’m not afraid.
Job 9
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
9 And Job answered, and said:
2 Indeed I know it is so, and that man cannot be justified compared with God.
3 If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one for a thousand.
4 He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath resisted him, and hath had peace?
5 Who hath removed mountains, and they whom he overthrew in his wrath, knew it not.
6 Who shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.
7 Who commandeth tile sun and it riseth not: and shutteth up the stars as it were under a seal:
8 Who alone spreadeth out the heavens, and walketh upon the waves of the sea.
9 Who maketh Arcturus, and Orion, and Hyades, and the inner parts of the south.
10 Who doth things great and incomprehensible, and wonderful, of which there is no number.
11 If he come to me, I shall not see him: if he depart I shall not understand.
12 If he examine on a sudden, who shall answer him? or who can say: Why dost thou so?
13 God, whose wrath no man can resist, and under whom they stoop that bear up the world.
14 What am I then, that I should answer him, and have words with him?
15 I, who although I should have any just thing, would not answer, but would make supplication to my judge.
16 And if he should hear me when I call, I should not believe that he had heard my voice.
17 For he shall crush me in a whirlwind, and multiply my wounds even without cause.
18 He alloweth not my spirit to rest, and he filleth me with bitterness.
19 If strength be demanded, he is most strong: if equity of judgment, no man dare bear witness for me.
20 If I would justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me: if I would shew myself innocent, he shall prove me wicked.
21 Although I should be simple, even this my soul shall be ignorant of, and I shall be weary of my life.
22 One thing there is that I have spoken, both the innocent and the wicked he consumeth.
23 If he scourge, let him kill at once, and not laugh at the pains of the innocent.
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?
25 My days have been swifter than a post: they have fled away and have not seen good.
26 They have passed by as ships carrying fruits, as an eagle flying to the prey.
27 If I say: I will not speak so: I change my face, and am tormented with sorrow.
28 I feared all my works, knowing that thou didst not spare the offender.
29 But if so also I am wicked, why have I laboured in vain?
30 If I be washed as it were with snow waters, and my hands shall shine ever so clean:
31 Yet thou shalt plunge me in filth, and my garments shall abhor me,
32 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 none that may be able to reprove both, and to put his hand between both.
34 Let him take his rod away 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.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.
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