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Then Job answered,

“Truly I know that it is so,
    but how can man be just with God?
If he is pleased to contend with him,
    he can’t answer him one time in a thousand.
God is wise in heart, and mighty in strength.
    Who has hardened himself against him and prospered?
He removes the mountains, and they don’t know it,
    when he overturns them in his anger.
He shakes the earth out of its place.
    Its pillars tremble.
He commands the sun and it doesn’t rise,
    and seals up the stars.
He alone stretches out the heavens,
    and treads on the waves of the sea.
He makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades,
    and the rooms of the south.
10 He does great things past finding out;
    yes, marvelous things without number.
11 Behold, he goes by me, and I don’t see him.
    He passes on also, but I don’t perceive him.
12 Behold, he snatches away.
    Who can hinder him?
    Who will ask him, ‘What are you doing?’

13 “God will not withdraw his anger.
    The helpers of Rahab stoop under him.

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Job Cannot Argue with His Creator

This was Job’s response:

“Indeed, I’m fully aware that this is so,
    but how can a person become right with God?
If one were to seek to argue with him,
    he won’t be able to answer him even once in a thousand times.
He is wise in heart and strong in will—
    who can be stubborn against him and succeed?

“He removes mountains without their knowledge,
    overthrowing them in his anger.
He shakes the earth from its orbit,[a]
    so that its foundations shudder.
He commands the sun so that it doesn’t shine[b]
    and seals up the stars.
He alone spreads out the heavens,
    he walks on the waves[c] of the sea.
He created Bear, Orion, the Pleiades,
    and the southern constellations.
10 He does great things that cannot be explained,
    and awesome deeds that cannot be counted.

11 “If he were to pass near me, I wouldn’t notice;
    if he moves by, I wouldn’t perceive him.
12 Indeed, if he snatches someone[d] away,
    who could restrain him?
        Who can say to him, ‘What are you doing?’

13 “God doesn’t restrain his anger.
    Rahab’s assistants are humiliated under him.

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Footnotes

  1. Job 9:6 Lit. place
  2. Job 9:7 Lit. rise
  3. Job 9:8 Lit. high places
  4. Job 9:12 The Heb. lacks someone