Job Chapter 9 of 42 about 3 min read

Job 9

What happens in this chapter

Chapter summary coming soon.

Verse 1. Then Job answered:

Verse 2. “Yes, I know that it is so, but how can a mortal be righteous before God?

Verse 3. If one wished to contend with God, he could not answer Him one time out of a thousand.

Verse 4. God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has resisted Him and prospered?

Verse 5. He moves mountains without their knowledge and overturns them in His anger.

Verse 6. He shakes the earth from its place, so that its foundations tremble.

Verse 7. He commands the sun not to shine; He seals off the stars.

Verse 8. He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea.

Verse 9. He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion, of the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.

Verse 10. He does great things beyond searching out, and wonders without number.

Verse 11. Were He to pass by me, I would not see Him; were He to move, I would not recognize Him.

Verse 12. If He takes away, who can stop Him? Who dares to ask Him, ‘What are You doing?’

Verse 13. God does not restrain His anger; the helpers of Rahab cower beneath Him.

Verse 14. How then can I answer Him or choose my arguments against Him?

Verse 15. For even if I were right, I could not answer. I could only beg my Judge for mercy.

Verse 16. If I summoned Him and He answered me, I do not believe He would listen to my voice.

Verse 17. For He would crush me with a tempest and multiply my wounds without cause.

Verse 18. He does not let me catch my breath, but overwhelms me with bitterness.

Verse 19. If it is a matter of strength, He is indeed mighty! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon Him?

Verse 20. Even if I were righteous, my mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, it would declare me guilty.

Verse 21. Though I am blameless, I have no concern for myself; I despise my own life.

Verse 22. It is all the same, and so I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’

Verse 23. When the scourge brings sudden death, He mocks the despair of the innocent.

Verse 24. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; He blindfolds its judges. If it is not He, then who is it?

Verse 25. My days are swifter than a runner; they flee without seeing good.

Verse 26. They sweep by like boats of papyrus, like an eagle swooping down on its prey.

Verse 27. If I were to say, ‘I will forget my complaint and change my expression and smile,’

Verse 28. I would still dread all my sufferings; I know that You will not acquit me.

Verse 29. Since I am already found guilty, why should I labor in vain?

Verse 30. If I should wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye,

Verse 31. then You would plunge me into the pit, and even my own clothes would despise me.

Verse 32. For He is not a man like me, that I can answer Him, that we can take each other to court.

Verse 33. Nor is there a mediator between us, to lay his hand upon us both.

Verse 34. Let Him remove His rod from me, so that His terror will no longer frighten me.

Verse 35. Then I would speak without fear of Him. But as it is, I am on my own.