Job 9 - Amplified Bible(AMP)

Job Says There Is No Arbitrator between God and Man

1Then Job answered and said,

2“Yes, I know it is true.

But how can a mortal man be right before God?

3“If one should want to contend or dispute with Him,

He could not answer Him once in a thousand times.

4“God is wise in heart and mighty in strength;

Who has defied or challenged Him and remained unharmed?

5“It is God who removes the mountains, and they do not know it,

When He overturns them in His anger;

6Who shakes the earth out of its place,

And its pillars tremble;

7Who commands the sun, and it does not shine;

Who seals up the stars;

8Who alone stretches out the heavens

And tramples down the waves of the sea;

9Who made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades,

And the spaces of the south;

10Who does great things, unfathomable,

Yes, marvelous and wondrous things without number.

11“Behold, He passes by me, and I do not see Him;

He moves past me, but I do not perceive Him.

12“Behold, He snatches away; who can restrain or turn Him back?

Who will say to Him, ‘What are You doing?’

13¶“God will not turn back His anger;

The helpers of Rahab bow under Him.

14“How can I answer Him,

Choosing my words with Him?

15“For though I were righteous, I could not answer.

I must appeal for mercy to my Opponent and Judge.

16“If I called and He answered me,

I could not believe that He was listening to my voice.

17“For He bruises me with a tempest

And multiplies my wounds without cause.

18“He will not allow me to catch my breath,

But fills and saturates me with bitterness.

19“If it is a matter of strength and power, behold, He is mighty!

And if of justice, who can summon and challenge Him?

20“Though I am innocent and in the right, my own mouth would pronounce me guilty;

Though I am blameless, He would denounce me as guilty.

21“[Though] I am blameless,

I do not care about myself;

I despise my life.

22“It is all one; therefore I say,

‘He destroys the blameless and the wicked.’

23“When scourge kills suddenly,

He mocks at the despair of the innocent.

24“The earth is given into the hands of the wicked;

He covers the faces of its judges.

If it is not He, then who is it?

25¶“Now my days are swifter than a runner;

They vanish, they see no good.

26“They pass by like the boats made of reeds,

Like an eagle that swoops down on its prey.

27“If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint,

I will leave off my sad appearance, and be cheerful and brighten up,’

28I am afraid of all my pains and worries;

I know that You will not acquit me and leave me unpunished.

29“I am accounted wicked and held guilty;

Why then should I labor in vain?

30“If I were to wash myself with snow

And cleanse my hands with lye,

31You would still plunge me into the pit,

And my own clothes would hate me.

32“For God is not a man, as I am, that I may answer Him,

That we may go to court and judgment together.

33“There is no arbitrator between us,

Who could lay his hand upon us both.

34“Let Him take His rod away from me,

And let not the dread and fear of Him terrify me.

35“Then I would speak and not fear Him;

But I am not like that in myself.