Job 9:1-13

Listen to Job 9:1-13

Job: How Can I Contend with God?

1 Then Job answered:
2 “Yes, I know that it is so, but how can a mortal be righteous before God?
3 If one wished to contend with God, [a] he could not answer Him one time out of a thousand.
4 God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has resisted Him and prospered?
5 He moves mountains without their knowledge and overturns them in His anger.
6 He shakes the earth from its place, so that its foundations tremble.
7 He commands the sun not to shine; [b] He seals off the stars.
8 He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea.
9 He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion, of the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.
10 He does great things beyond searching out, and wonders without number.
11 Were He to pass by me, I would not see Him; were He to move, I would not recognize Him.
12 If He takes away, [c] who can stop Him? Who dares to ask Him, ‘What are You doing?’
13 God does not restrain His anger; the helpers of Rahab cower beneath Him.

Job 9:1-13 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 9

This and the following chapter contain Job's answer to Bildad, and in this he asserts the strict justice at God; which is such, that no man can be just in his sight, not being able to answer to one charge, or for one sin, of a thousand he is guilty of, Job 9:1-3; and that such are his wisdom and power, that the most daring man cannot expect to succeed in an opposition to him, Job 9:4; instances are given of his power in the works of nature and providence, Job 9:5-10; notice is taken of the imperceptibleness of his actions and motions, and of his sovereignty in all his ways, Job 9:11,12; and of his fierce wrath and anger, which is such as obliges the proudest of men to stoop under him; and therefore Job chose not to contend in a judicial way with him, but in a suppliant manner would entreat him, since his hand was so heavy upon him, Job 9:13-21; he affirms, in direct opposition to Bildad and his friends, and insists upon it, that God afflicts both the righteous and the wicked; yea, gives the earth to the latter when he slays the former, Job 9:22-24; he then observes the shortness of his days, and complains of his heavy afflictions, Job 9:25-28; and concludes, that it was in vain for him to expect his cause to be heard before God, there being no daysman between them; and wishes that the dread of the Divine Majesty might be taken from him, and then he would freely and without fear speak unto him, Job 9:29-35.

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Footnotes 3

  • [a] Or If God wished to contend with someone
  • [b] Or rise
  • [c] Or snatches someone in death
The Berean Bible and Majority Bible texts are officially placed into the public domain