Job’s Reply to Bildad

Then Job answered:

Yes, I know what you’ve said is true,
but how can a person be justified before God?(A)
If one wanted to take(B) him to court,
he could not answer God[a] once in a thousand times.(C)
God is wise(D) and all-powerful.
Who has opposed him and come out unharmed?
He removes mountains without their knowledge,
overturning them in his anger.(E)
He shakes the earth from its place
so that its pillars tremble.
He commands the sun not to shine
and seals off the stars.(F)
He alone stretches out the heavens(G)
and treads on the waves of the sea.[b]
He makes the stars: the Bear,[c] Orion,
the Pleiades,(H) and the constellations[d] of the southern sky.
10 He does great and unsearchable things,
wonders without number.(I)
11 If he passed by me, I wouldn’t see him;(J)
if he went by, I wouldn’t recognize him.
12 If he snatches something, who can stop[e] him?
Who can ask him, “What are you doing?” (K)
13 God does not hold back his anger;
Rahab’s(L) assistants cringe in fear beneath him!

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Footnotes

  1. 9:3 Or court, God would not answer him
  2. 9:8 Or and walks on the back of the sea god
  3. 9:9 Or Aldebaran
  4. 9:9 Or chambers
  5. 9:12 Or dissuade

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.