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Job Replies: There Is No Mediator

Then Job answered:

“Indeed, I know that this is so,
    but how can a mortal be just before God?(A)
If one wished to contend with him,
    one could not answer him once in a thousand.(B)
He is wise in heart and mighty in strength;
    who has resisted him and succeeded?(C)
He removes mountains, and they do not know it
    when he overturns them in his anger;
he shakes the earth out of its place,
    and its pillars tremble;(D)
he commands the sun, and it does not rise;
    he seals up the stars;
he alone stretched out the heavens
    and trampled the waves of the Sea;[a](E)
he made the Bear and Orion,
    the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;(F)
10 he does great things beyond understanding
    and marvelous things without number.(G)
11 Look, he passes by me, and I do not see him;
    he moves on, but I do not perceive him.(H)
12 He snatches away; who can stop him?
    Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’(I)

13 “God will not turn back his anger;
    the helpers of Rahab bowed beneath him.(J)

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Footnotes

  1. 9.8 Or trampled the back of the sea dragon

Job’s Third Speech: A Response to Bildad

Then Job spoke again:

“Yes, I know all this is true in principle.
    But how can a person be declared innocent in God’s sight?
If someone wanted to take God to court,[a]
    would it be possible to answer him even once in a thousand times?
For God is so wise and so mighty.
    Who has ever challenged him successfully?

“Without warning, he moves the mountains,
    overturning them in his anger.
He shakes the earth from its place,
    and its foundations tremble.
If he commands it, the sun won’t rise
    and the stars won’t shine.
He alone has spread out the heavens
    and marches on the waves of the sea.
He made all the stars—the Bear and Orion,
    the Pleiades and the constellations of the southern sky.
10 He does great things too marvelous to understand.
    He performs countless miracles.

11 “Yet when he comes near, I cannot see him.
    When he moves by, I do not see him go.
12 If he snatches someone in death, who can stop him?
    Who dares to ask, ‘What are you doing?’
13 And God does not restrain his anger.
    Even the monsters of the sea[b] are crushed beneath his feet.

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Footnotes

  1. 9:3 Or If God wanted to take someone to court.
  2. 9:13 Hebrew the helpers of Rahab, the name of a mythical sea monster that represents chaos in ancient literature.