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Job 9, RSV

9:1 Then Job answered:

9:2 "Truly I know that it is so: But how can a man be just before God?

9:3 If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times.

9:4 He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength -- who has hardened himself against him, and succeeded? --

9:5 he who removes mountains, and they know it not, when he overturns them in his anger;

9:6 who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble;

9:7 who commands the sun, and it does not rise; who seals up the stars;

9:8 who alone stretched out the heavens, and trampled the waves of the sea;

9:9 who made the Bear and Orion, the Plei'ades and the chambers of the south;

9:10 who does great things beyond understanding, and marvelous things without number.

9:11 Lo, he passes by me, and I see him not; he moves on, but I do not perceive him.

9:12 Behold, he snatches away; who can hinder him? Who will say to him, `What doest thou'?

9:13 "God will not turn back his anger; beneath him bowed the helpers of Rahab.

9:14 How then can I answer him, choosing my words with him?

9:15 Though I am innocent, I cannot answer him; I must appeal for mercy to my accuser.

9:16 If I summoned him and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.

9:17 For he crushes me with a tempest, and multiplies my wounds without cause;

9:18 he will not let me get my breath, but fills me with bitterness.

9:19 If it is a contest of strength, behold him! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?

9:20 Though I am innocent, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.

9:21 I am blameless; I regard not myself; I loathe my life.

9:22 It is all one; therefore I say, he destroys both the blameless and the wicked.

9:23 When disaster brings sudden death, he mocks at the calamity of the innocent.

9:24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he covers the faces of its judges -- if it is not he, who then is it?

9:25 "My days are swifter than a runner; they flee away, they see no good.

9:26 They go by like skiffs of reed, like an eagle swooping on the prey.

9:27 If I say, `I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad countenance, and be of good cheer,'

9:28 I become afraid of all my suffering, for I know thou wilt not hold me innocent.

9:29 I shall be condemned; why then do I labor in vain?

9:30 If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with lye,

9:31 yet thou wilt plunge me into a pit, and my own clothes will abhor me.

9:32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together.

9:33 There is no umpire between us, who might lay his hand upon us both.

9:34 Let him take his rod away from me, and let not dread of him terrify me.

9:35 Then I would speak without fear of him, for I am not so in myself.

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