Job 9

Listen to Job 9

Job Replies: There Is No Arbiter

1 Then Job answered and said:
2 "Truly I know that it is so: But how can a man be 1in the right before God?
3 If one wished to 2contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times.
4 He is 3wise in heart and mighty in strength --who has 4hardened himself against him, and succeeded?--
5 he who removes mountains, and they know it not, when he overturns them in his anger,
6 who 5shakes the earth out of its place, and 6its pillars tremble;
7 who commands the sun, and it does not rise; who seals up the stars;
8 who alone 7stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea;
9 who 8made 9the Bear and 10Orion, the Pleiades 11and the chambers of the south;
10 who does 12great things beyond searching out, and marvelous things beyond number.
11 Behold, he passes by me, and I 13see him not; he moves on, but I do not perceive him.
12 Behold, he snatches away; 14who can turn him back? 15Who will say to him, 'What are you doing?'
13 "God will not turn back his anger; beneath him bowed the helpers of 16Rahab.
14 17How then can I 18answer him, choosing my words with him?
15 19Though I am in the right, I cannot answer him; I must 20appeal 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 21without cause;
18 he will not let me get my breath, but fills me with bitterness.
19 If it is a contest of 22strength, behold, he is mighty! If it is a matter of justice, who can 23summon him?[b]
20 Though I am in the right, 24my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
21 I am 25blameless; I regard not myself; I 26loathe my life.
22 It is all one; therefore I say, He 27destroys both the blameless and the wicked.
23 When 28disaster brings sudden death, he mocks at the calamity[c] of the innocent.
24 29The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he 30covers the faces of its judges-- 31if it is not he, who then is it?
25 "My 32days are swifter than 33a runner; they flee away; they see no good.
26 They go by like 34skiffs of reed, like 35an eagle swooping on the prey.
27 If I say, 36'I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face, and 37be of good cheer,'
28 I become 38afraid of all my suffering, for I know you will not 39hold me innocent.
29 I shall be 40condemned; why then do I labor in vain?
30 If I wash myself with snow and 41cleanse my hands with lye,
31 yet you will plunge me into a pit, and my own clothes will 42abhor me.
32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should 43come to trial together.
33 44There is no[d] arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both.
34 45Let him take his 46rod away from me, and let 47not dread of him terrify me.
35 Then I would speak without fear of him, for I am not so in myself.

Cross References 47

  • 1. Job 4:17
  • 2. [Job 10:2; Psalms 143:2; Romans 3:20]
  • 3. [Job 12:13; Job 36:5]
  • 4. [Exodus 7:13; Exodus 32:9]
  • 5. Isaiah 2:19, 21; Isaiah 13:13; Haggai 2:6, 21; Hebrews 12:26
  • 6. Job 26:11; Psalms 75:3
  • 7. Job 26:7; Psalms 104:2; Jeremiah 10:12; Jeremiah 51:15; Zechariah 12:1
  • 8. Genesis 1:16
  • 9. Job 38:32
  • 10. Job 38:31; Amos 5:8
  • 11. Job 37:9
  • 12. See Job 5:9
  • 13. Job 23:8, 9
  • 14. Job 11:10; Job 23:13
  • 15. Isaiah 45:9; [Jeremiah 18:6; Romans 9:20]
  • 16. Job 26:12; Psalms 40:4; Psalms 82:4; Psalms 89:10; Isaiah 30:7; Isaiah 51:9
  • 17. Job 15:16
  • 18. ver. 3
  • 19. Job 10:15
  • 20. Job 8:5
  • 21. Job 2:3; [Job 34:6]
  • 22. [ver. 4]
  • 23. Jeremiah 49:19; Jeremiah 50:44
  • 24. Job 15:6
  • 25. Job 1:1
  • 26. Job 7:16(Heb.); [Job 10:1]
  • 27. Ecclesiastes 9:2, 3; Ezekiel 21:3
  • 28. Isaiah 10:26
  • 29. [Job 10:3]
  • 30. See Job 12:17
  • 31. [Job 24:25]
  • 32. Job 7:6
  • 33. [2 Chronicles 30:6; Jeremiah 51:31]
  • 34. [Isaiah 18:2]
  • 35. Habakkuk 1:8
  • 36. [Job 7:13]
  • 37. Psalms 39:13
  • 38. [Psalms 119:120]
  • 39. Job 10:14
  • 40. [Job 10:2]
  • 41. Isaiah 1:25; Jeremiah 2:22; See Job 22:30
  • 42. Job 19:19; Job 30:10
  • 43. Ecclesiastes 6:10; Romans 9:20
  • 44. ver. 19; 1 Samuel 2:25; [Job 16:21]
  • 45. [Psalms 39:10]
  • 46. Job 21:9; Psalms 89:32; Isaiah 10:24
  • 47. [Job 13:21; Job 33:7]

Footnotes 4

  • [a]. Or to my judge
  • [b]. Compare Septuagint; Hebrew me
  • [c]. The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain
  • [d]. Or Would that there were an

Job 9 Commentaries

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.