Job 9-10

English Standard Version

Job Replies: There Is No Arbiter

9 Then Job answered and said:

²“Truly I know that it is so:
    But how can a man be ^(A)in the right before God?
³If one wished to ^(B)contend with him,
    one could not answer him once in a thousand times.
⁴He is ^(C)wise in heart and mighty in strength
    —who has ^(D)hardened himself against him, and succeeded?—
⁵he who removes mountains, and they know it not,
    when he overturns them in his anger,
⁶who ^(E)shakes the earth out of its place,
    and ^(F)its pillars tremble;
⁷who commands the sun, and it does not rise;
    who seals up the stars;
⁸who alone ^(G)stretched out the heavens
    and trampled the waves of the sea;
⁹who ^(H)made ^(I)the Bear and ^(J)Orion,
    the Pleiades ^(K)and the chambers of the south;
¹⁰who does ^(L)great things beyond searching out,
    and marvelous things beyond number.
¹¹Behold, he passes by me, and I ^(M)see him not;
    he moves on, but I do not perceive him.
¹²Behold, he snatches away; ^(N)who can turn him back?
    ^(O)Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’

¹³“God will not turn back his anger;
    beneath him bowed the helpers of ^(P)Rahab.
¹⁴^(Q)How then can I ^(R)answer him,
    choosing my words with him?
¹⁵^(S)Though I am in the right, I cannot answer him;
    I must ^(T)appeal for mercy to my accuser.^[a]
¹⁶If I summoned him and he answered me,
    I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.
¹⁷For he crushes me with a tempest
    and multiplies my wounds ^(U)without cause;
¹⁸he will not let me get my breath,
    but fills me with bitterness.
¹⁹If it is a contest of ^(V)strength, behold, he is mighty!
    If it is a matter of justice, who can ^(W)summon him?^[b]
²⁰Though I am in the right, ^(X)my own mouth would condemn me;
    though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
²¹I am ^(Y)blameless; I regard not myself;
    I ^(Z)loathe my life.
²²It is all one; therefore I say,
    ‘He ^(AA)destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
²³When ^(AB)disaster brings sudden death,
    he mocks at the calamity^[c] of the innocent.
²⁴^(AC)The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;
    he ^(AD)covers the faces of its judges—
    ^(AE)if it is not he, who then is it?

²⁵“My ^(AF)days are swifter than ^(AG)a runner;
    they flee away; they see no good.
²⁶They go by like ^(AH)skiffs of reed,
    like ^(AI)an eagle swooping on the prey.
²⁷If I say, ^(AJ)‘I will forget my complaint,
    I will put off my sad face, and ^(AK)be of good cheer,’
²⁸I become ^(AL)afraid of all my suffering,
    for I know you will not ^(AM)hold me innocent.
²⁹I shall be ^(AN)condemned;
    why then do I labor in vain?
³⁰If I wash myself with snow
    and ^(AO)cleanse my hands with lye,
³¹yet you will plunge me into a pit,
    and my own clothes will ^(AP)abhor me.
³²For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him,
    that we should ^(AQ)come to trial together.
³³^(AR)There is no^[d] arbiter between us,
    who might lay his hand on us both.
³⁴^(AS)Let him take his ^(AT)rod away from me,
    and let ^(AU)not dread of him terrify me.
³⁵Then I would speak without fear of him,
    for I am not so in myself.

Job Continues: A Plea to God

10 “I ^(AV)loathe my life;
I will give free utterance to my ^(AW)complaint;
    I will speak in ^(AX)the bitterness of my soul.
²I will say to God, Do not ^(AY)condemn me;
    let me know why you ^(AZ)contend against me.
³^(BA)Does it seem good to you to oppress,
    to despise ^(BB)the work of your hands
    ^(BC)and favor the designs of the wicked?
⁴Have you ^(BD)eyes of flesh?
    ^(BE)Do you see as man sees?
⁵Are your days as the days of man,
    or your ^(BF)years as a man's years,
⁶that you ^(BG)seek out my iniquity
    and search for my sin,
⁷although you ^(BH)know that I am not guilty,
    and there is ^(BI)none to deliver out of your hand?
⁸^(BJ)Your hands fashioned and made me,
    and now you have destroyed me altogether.
⁹Remember that you have made me like ^(BK)clay;
    and will you return me to the ^(BL)dust?
¹⁰Did you not pour me out like milk
    and curdle me like cheese?
¹¹You clothed me with skin and flesh,
    and knit me together with bones and sinews.
¹²You have granted me life and steadfast love,
    and your care has preserved my spirit.
¹³Yet these things you hid in your heart;
    I know that ^(BM)this was your purpose.
¹⁴If I sin, you ^(BN)watch me
    and do not ^(BO)acquit me of my iniquity.
¹⁵^(BP)If I am guilty, woe to me!
    If I am ^(BQ)in the right, I cannot lift up my head,
for I am filled with disgrace
    and ^(BR)look on my affliction.
¹⁶And were my head lifted up,^[e] you would hunt me like ^(BS)a lion
    and again work ^(BT)wonders against me.
¹⁷You renew your ^(BU)witnesses against me
    and increase your vexation toward me;
    you ^(BV)bring fresh troops against me.

¹⁸^(BW)“Why did you bring me out from the womb?
    Would that I had died before any eye had seen me
¹⁹^(BX)and were as though I had not been,
    carried from the womb to the grave.
²⁰^(BY)Are not my days few?
    ^(BZ)Then cease, and leave me alone, ^(CA)that I may find a little cheer
²¹before I go—and ^(CB)I shall not return—
    to the land of ^(CC)darkness and ^(CD)deep shadow,
²²the land of gloom like thick darkness,
    like deep shadow without any order,
    where light is as thick darkness.”