Job 9
Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
Job Replies: There Is No Mediator
9 Then Job answered:
2 “Truly I know that it is so:
But how can a man be just before God?
3 If one wished to contend with him,
one could not answer him once in a thousand times.
4 He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength
—who has hardened himself against him, and succeeded?—
5 he who removes mountains, and they know it not,
when he overturns them in his anger;
6 who shakes the earth out of its place,
and its pillars tremble;
7 who commands the sun, and it does not rise;
who seals up the stars;
8 who alone stretched out the heavens,
and trampled the waves of the sea;[a]
9 who made the Bear and Orion,
the Plei′ades and the chambers of the south;
10 who does great things beyond understanding,
and marvelous things without number.
11 Lo, he passes by me, and I see him not;
he moves on, but I do not perceive him.
12 Behold, he snatches away; who can hinder him?
Who will say to him, ‘What doest thou?’
13 “God will not turn back his anger;
beneath him bowed the helpers of Rahab.
14 How then can I answer him,
choosing my words with him?
15 Though I am innocent, I cannot answer him;
I must appeal for mercy to my accuser.[b]
16 If I summoned him and he answered me,
I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.
17 For he crushes me with a tempest,
and multiplies my wounds without cause;
18 he will not let me get my breath,
but fills me with bitterness.
19 If it is a contest of strength, behold him!
If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?[c]
20 Though I am innocent, my own mouth would condemn me;
though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
21 I am blameless; I regard not myself;
I loathe my life.
22 It is all one; therefore I say,
he destroys both the blameless and the wicked.
23 When disaster brings sudden death,
he mocks at the calamity[d] of the innocent.
24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;
he covers the faces of its judges—
if it is not he, who then is it?
25 “My days are swifter than a runner;
they flee away, they see no good.
26 They go by like skiffs of reed,
like an eagle swooping on the prey.
27 If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint,
I will put off my sad countenance, and be of good cheer,’
28 I become afraid of all my suffering,
for I know thou wilt not hold me innocent.
29 I shall be condemned;
why then do I labor in vain?
30 If I wash myself with snow,
and cleanse my hands with lye,
31 yet thou wilt plunge me into a pit,
and my own clothes will abhor me.
32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him,
that we should come to trial together.
33 There is no[e] umpire between us,
who might lay his hand upon us both.
34 Let him take his rod away from me,
and let not dread of him terrify me.
35 Then I would speak without fear of him,
for I am not so in myself.
The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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