ኢዮብ 9

Job answers: how can a mortal be in the right with God?

¹Then Job answered: ²Yes, I know that it is so; \q but how can a mortal be in the right before God? ³If someone wished to argue a case with him, \q they could not answer him once in a thousand times.^{a 4}He is wise in heart and mighty in strength; \q who has ever defied him and come away unharmed? ⁵He moves mountains before they know it, \q and overturns them in his anger. ⁶He shakes the earth out of its place, \q and its pillars tremble. ⁷He speaks to the sun, and it does not rise; \q he puts the stars under seal. ⁸By himself he stretched out the heavens, \q and he treads on the waves of the sea. ⁹He made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades, \q and the star clusters of the south.^{bc 10}He does great things too deep to search out, \q and wonders too many to count. ¹¹If he passes by me, I do not see him; \q if he moves on, I cannot perceive him. ¹²If he snatches something away, who can stop him? \q Who can say to him, “What are you doing?” ¹³God does not hold back his anger; \q the helpers of Rahab bowed down beneath him. ¹⁴How then could I answer him, \q or choose my words to argue with him? ¹⁵Even if I were in the right, I could not answer him; \q I would have to beg my judge for mercy.^{d 16}If I called and he answered me, \q I would not believe that he was listening to me. ¹⁷He would crush me with a storm \q and multiply my wounds for no reason.^{e 18}He would not let me catch my breath, \q but would fill me with bitterness. ¹⁹If it is a matter of strength, look, he is the mighty one! \q If it is a matter of justice, he says, “Who can summon me?”^{f 20}Even if I were in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; \q though I am blameless, it would prove me crooked.^{g 21}I am blameless, yet I no longer care about myself; \q I loathe my life.^{h 22}It is all the same; that is why I say, \q “He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.” ²³When a disaster brings sudden death, \q he mocks at the despair of the innocent.^{i 24}The earth is handed over to the wicked; \q he blindfolds its judges. \q If it is not he, then who is it? ²⁵My days go by faster than a runner; \q they slip away without seeing anything good. ²⁶They glide past like boats made of reeds, \q like an eagle swooping down on its prey. ²⁷If I say, “I will forget my complaint; \q I will put away my sad face and smile,” ²⁸I am still afraid of all my pains, \q for I know you will not declare me innocent. ²⁹I am going to be found guilty anyway; \q why then should I struggle in vain? ³⁰Even if I washed myself with snow \q and cleaned my hands with lye, ³¹even then you would plunge me into a filthy pit, \q so that my own clothes would loathe me. ³²For he is not a human being like me, that I could answer him, \q that we could go to court together. ³³There is no one to judge between us, \q who could lay his hand on us both.^{j 34}Let him take his rod off me, \q and let the dread of him no longer terrify me; ³⁵then I would speak without fear of him. \q But as things are with me, I cannot.^k