Job 9:1-10

Job's Reply to Bildad

1 Then Job answered:

2 Yes, I know what you've said is true, but how can a person be justified before God?^[a]

3 If one wanted to take Him to court, he could not answer God^[b] once in a thousand [times].^[c]

4 God is wise and all-powerful. Who has opposed Him and come out unharmed?

5 He removes mountains without their knowledge, overturning them in His anger.^[d]

6 He shakes the earth from its place so that its pillars tremble.

7 He commands the sun not to shine and seals off the stars.^[e]

8 He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea.^[f][g]

9 He makes [the stars]: the Bear,^[h] Orion, the Pleiades,^[i] and the constellations^[j] of the southern sky.

10 He performs great and unsearchable things, wonders without number.^[k]

Job 9:1-10 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.

Footnotes

• [a] Jb 25:4
• [b] Or court, God would not answer him
• [c] Jb 9:14; 37:19; 38:3
• [d] Ps 18:7; Mc 1:4; Mt 17:20
• [e] Isa 13:10; Jl 2:10,31; Zch 14:6
• [f] Or and walks on the back of the sea god
• [g] Gn 1:1-2; Isa 44:24; 48:13
• [h] Or Aldebaran
• [i] Jb 38:31-32; Isa 40:26; Am 5:8
• [j] Or chambers
• [k] Jb 5:9; Ps 145:3; Isa 40:28