Job 9

Job

1 Then Job replied:
2 “Indeed, I know that this is true. But how can mere mortals prove their innocence before God?
3 Though they wished to dispute with him, they could not answer him one time out of a thousand.
4 His wisdom is profound, his power is vast. Who has resisted him and come out unscathed?
5 He moves mountains without their knowing it and overturns them in his anger.
6 He shakes the earth from its place and makes its pillars tremble.
7 He speaks to the sun and it does not shine; he seals off the light of 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[a] and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.
10 He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.
11 When he passes me, I cannot see him; when he goes by, I cannot perceive him.
12 If he snatches away, who can stop him? Who can say to him, ‘What are you doing?’
13 God does not restrain his anger; even the cohorts of Rahab cowered at his feet.
14 “How then can I dispute with him? How can I find words to argue with him?
15 Though I were innocent, I could not answer him; I could only plead with my Judge for mercy.
16 Even if I summoned him and he responded, I do not believe he would give me a hearing.
17 He would crush me with a storm and multiply my wounds for no reason.
18 He would not let me catch my breath but would overwhelm me with misery.
19 If it is a matter of strength, he is mighty! And if it is a matter of justice, who can challenge him[b] ?
20 Even if I were innocent, my mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, it would pronounce me guilty.
21 “Although I am blameless, I have no concern for myself; I despise my own life.
22 It is all the same; that is why I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
23 When a scourge brings sudden death, he mocks the despair of the innocent.
24 When a land falls into the hands of the wicked, he blindfolds its judges. If it is not he, then who is it?
25 “My days are swifter than a runner; they fly away without a glimpse of joy.
26 They skim past like boats of papyrus, like eagles swooping down on their prey.
27 If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will change my expression, and smile,’
28 I still dread all my sufferings, for I know you will not hold me innocent.
29 Since I am already found guilty, why should I struggle in vain?
30 Even if I washed myself with soap and my hands with cleansing powder,
31 you would plunge me into a slime pit so that even my clothes would detest me.
32 “He is not a mere mortal like me that I might answer him, that we might confront each other in court.
33 If only there were someone to mediate between us, someone to bring us together,
34 someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more.
35 Then I would speak up without fear of him, but as it now stands with me, I cannot.

Cross References 70

  • 1. S Job 4:17; Psalms 143:2; Romans 3:20
  • 2. ver 32; Job 40:5
  • 3. ver 12,14,29,32; Job 10:2; Job 12:14; Job 13:9,14; Job 22:4; Job 23:7,13; Job 37:19; Job 40:2; Psalms 44:21; Isaiah 14:24
  • 4. Job 11:6; Job 28:12,20,23; Job 38:36; Psalms 51:6; Proverbs 2:6; Ecclesiastes 2:26
  • 5. ver 19; S Job 5:9; Job 12:13,16; Job 23:6; Job 24:22; Job 26:12; Job 30:18; Psalms 93:4; Psalms 95:3; Proverbs 8:14; Isaiah 40:26; Isaiah 63:1; Daniel 2:20; Daniel 4:35; Job 36:5
  • 6. Jeremiah 50:24
  • 7. S 2 Chronicles 13:12; S Job 5:13
  • 8. Matthew 17:20
  • 9. Psalms 18:7; Psalms 46:2-3; Isaiah 13:13; Micah 1:4
  • 10. S Exodus 19:18; Isaiah 2:21; Isaiah 13:13; Isaiah 24:18-20; Haggai 2:6; Amos 8:8; Hebrews 12:26
  • 11. S 2 Samuel 22:8; Job 26:14; Job 36:29; Job 37:4-5; Psalms 75:3; Habakkuk 3:4; Job 26:11
  • 12. Isaiah 34:4; Jeremiah 4:28; Joel 2:2,10,31; Joel 3:15; Zephaniah 1:15; Zechariah 14:6
  • 13. Isaiah 13:10; Jeremiah 4:23; Ezekiel 32:8
  • 14. S Genesis 1:1,8; S Isaiah 48:13; Genesis 1:6; Psalms 104:2-3
  • 15. Job 38:16; Psalms 77:19; Proverbs 8:28; Habakkuk 3:15; Matthew 14:25; Mark 6:48; John 6:19
  • 16. Job 32:22; Job 40:15,19
  • 17. S Genesis 1:16; Job 38:31; Amos 5:8
  • 18. Deuteronomy 6:22; Psalms 72:18; Psalms 136:4; Jeremiah 32:20; Psalms 71:15
  • 19. S Job 5:9
  • 20. Job 23:8-9; Job 35:14
  • 21. Numbers 23:20; Job 11:10; Isaiah 14:27; Isaiah 43:13
  • 22. S ver 3; S Deuteronomy 32:39; Isaiah 29:16; Isaiah 45:9; Daniel 2:21; Daniel 4:32; Romans 9:20
  • 23. Numbers 14:18; Job 10:15; Psalms 78:38; Isaiah 3:11; Isaiah 6:5; Isaiah 48:9
  • 24. Job 26:12; Psalms 87:4; Psalms 89:10; Isaiah 30:7; Isaiah 51:9
  • 25. S ver 3
  • 26. Job 10:15; Job 13:19; Job 34:5-6; Job 40:5; Job 42:7
  • 27. Job 8:5
  • 28. S Genesis 18:25; 1 Samuel 24:12; Psalms 50:6; Psalms 96:13
  • 29. ver 20,29; Job 15:6; Job 23:4; Job 40:2
  • 30. Job 13:22; Romans 9:20-21
  • 31. Job 16:12; Job 30:16; Psalms 10:10; Isaiah 38:13
  • 32. Job 30:22; Psalms 83:15; John 1:4
  • 33. Job 16:14
  • 34. S Job 2:3
  • 35. S Job 7:19; S Job 10:1; Job 27:2
  • 36. S ver 4; S Nehemiah 9:32
  • 37. ver 33; Jeremiah 49:19
  • 38. S ver 15
  • 39. S Genesis 6:9; Job 34:6,7; Job 1:1
  • 40. ver 14; S Job 6:29; Job 10:1; Job 13:13
  • 41. S Numbers 11:15; S Job 7:16
  • 42. S Job 3:19; Job 10:8; Ecclesiastes 9:2,3; Ezekiel 21:3
  • 43. Hebrews 11:36
  • 44. Job 24:1,12; Psalms 64:4; Habakkuk 1:3; 1 Peter 1:7
  • 45. Job 1:15,17; Job 10:3; Job 16:11; Job 21:16; Job 22:18; Job 27:2; Job 40:8; Psalms 73:3
  • 46. S Job 3:14; Job 12:6; Job 19:7; Job 21:7; Job 24:23; Job 31:35; Job 35:15; Psalms 73:12; Ecclesiastes 8:11; Jeremiah 12:1; Lamentations 3:9
  • 47. Job 12:9; Job 13:1; Job 24:12; Isaiah 41:20
  • 48. S Job 7:6
  • 49. Job 7:7; Job 10:20
  • 50. Job 24:18; Psalms 46:3
  • 51. Isaiah 18:2
  • 52. Job 39:29; Habakkuk 1:8
  • 53. S Job 7:11
  • 54. S Job 3:25; Psalms 119:120
  • 55. S Exodus 34:7; S Job 7:21
  • 56. S ver 3,S 15; Psalms 37:33
  • 57. Malachi 3:2
  • 58. Job 17:9; Job 31:7; Isaiah 1:15
  • 59. Job 14:4,17; Job 33:9; Isaiah 1:18; Jeremiah 2:22; Hosea 13:12
  • 60. Psalms 35:7; Psalms 40:2; Psalms 51:9; Jeremiah 2:22; Nahum 3:6; Malachi 2:3
  • 61. S Job 7:20; Job 34:9; Job 35:3; Psalms 73:13
  • 62. S Numbers 23:19
  • 63. S ver 3; Romans 9:20
  • 64. Psalms 143:2; Ecclesiastes 6:10
  • 65. S 1 Samuel 2:25
  • 66. S ver 19
  • 67. Job 13:21; Job 21:9; Psalms 39:10; Psalms 73:5
  • 68. S Job 6:4; Job 7:14; Job 33:7; Psalms 32:4
  • 69. S Job 7:11
  • 70. Job 7:15; Job 13:21

Footnotes 2

Job 9 Commentaries

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