13 “God will not turn back his anger;
    beneath him bowed the helpers of (A)Rahab.
14 (B)How then can I (C)answer him,
    choosing my words with him?
15 (D)Though I am in the right, I cannot answer him;
    I must (E)appeal for mercy to my accuser.[a]
16 If I summoned him and he answered me,
    I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.
17 For he crushes me with a tempest
    and multiplies my wounds (F)without cause;
18 he will not let me get my breath,
    but fills me with bitterness.
19 If it is a contest of (G)strength, behold, he is mighty!
    If it is a matter of justice, who can (H)summon him?[b]
20 Though I am in the right, (I)my own mouth would condemn me;
    though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
21 I am (J)blameless; I regard not myself;
    I (K)loathe my life.
22 It is all one; therefore I say,
    ‘He (L)destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
23 When (M)disaster brings sudden death,
    he mocks at the calamity[c] of the innocent.
24 (N)The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;
    he (O)covers the faces of its judges—
    (P)if it is not he, who then is it?

25 “My (Q)days are swifter than (R)a runner;
    they flee away; they see no good.
26 They go by like (S)skiffs of reed,
    like (T)an eagle swooping on the prey.
27 If I say, (U)‘I will forget my complaint,
    I will put off my sad face, and (V)be of good cheer,’
28 I become (W)afraid of all my suffering,
    for I know you will not (X)hold me innocent.
29 I shall be (Y)condemned;
    why then do I labor in vain?
30 If I wash myself with snow
    and (Z)cleanse my hands with lye,
31 yet you will plunge me into a pit,
    and my own clothes will (AA)abhor me.
32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him,
    that we should (AB)come to trial together.
33 (AC)There is no[d] arbiter between us,
    who might lay his hand on us both.
34 (AD)Let him take his (AE)rod away from me,
    and let (AF)not dread of him terrify me.
35 Then I would speak without fear of him,
    for I am not so in myself.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Job 9:15 Or to my judge
  2. Job 9:19 Or who can grant me a hearing?
  3. Job 9:23 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain
  4. Job 9:33 Or Would that there were an

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