Parallel Bible results for "job 9"

Job 9

Common English Bible CEB

1 Job responded:

2 I know for certain that this is so; and how can anyone be innocent before God?

3 If one wants to contend with him, he won't answer one in a thousand.

4 He is wise and powerful; who can resist him and prosper?

5 Who removes mountains, and they are unaware; who overthrows them in anger? and its pillars shudder?

6 Who shakes the earth from its place,

7 Who commands the sun, and it does not rise, even seals up the stars;

8 stretched out the heavens alone and trod on the waves of the Sea;

9 made the Bear and Orion, Pleiades and the southern constellations;

10 does great and unsearchable things, wonders beyond number?

11 If God goes by me, I can't see him; he glides past, and I can't perceive him.

12 If he seizes, who can bring back? Who can say to him, "What are you doing?"

13 God won't retract his anger; the helpers of Rahab bow beneath him.

14 Yet I myself will answer him; I'll choose my words in a contest with him.

15 Even if I'm innocent, I can't answer; I must plead for justice.

16 If I were to call and he answered me, I couldn't believe that he heard my voice.

17 Who bruises me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds for no reason?

18 He doesn't let me catch my breath, for he fills me with bitterness.

19 If the issue is strength—behold power! If justice—who calls God to meet me?

20 If I'm innocent, my mouth condemns me; I have integrity; but God declares me perverse.

21 I'm blameless, yet don't know myself; I reject my life.

22 It's all the same; therefore, I say God destroys the blameless and the sinners.

23 If calamity suddenly kills, he mocks at the slaying of innocents.

24 The earth is handed over to the wicked; he covers the faces of its judges. If not God, then who does?

25 My days are swifter than a runner; they flee and don't experience good.

26 They sweep by like ships made of reeds, as an eagle swoops on prey.

27 If I say, "I'll forget my lament, put on a different face so I can smile,"

28 I'm still afraid of all my suffering; I know that you won't declare me innocent.

29 I myself am thought guilty; why have I tried so hard in vain?

30 If I wash myself with snow, purify my hands with soap,

31 then you'll hurl me into a slimy pit so that my clothes detest me.

32 God is not a man like me—someone I could answer— so that we could come together in court.

33 Oh, that there were a mediator between us; he would lay his hand on both of us,

34 remove his rod from me, so his fury wouldn't frighten me.

35 Then I would speak—unafraid— for I'm not that way.

The Message Bible MSG

1 Job continued by saying:

2 "So what's new? I know all this. The question is, 'How can mere mortals get right with God?'

3 If we wanted to bring our case before him, what chance would we have? Not one in a thousand!

4 God's wisdom is so deep, God's power so immense, who could take him on and come out in one piece?

5 He moves mountains before they know what's happened, flips them on their heads on a whim.

6 He gives the earth a good shaking up, rocks it down to its very foundations.

7 He tells the sun, 'Don't shine,' and it doesn't; he pulls the blinds on the stars.

8 All by himself he stretches out the heavens and strides on the waves of the sea.

9 He designed the Big Dipper and Orion, the Pleiades and Alpha Centauri.

10 We'll never comprehend all the great things he does; his miracle-surprises can't be counted.

11 Somehow, though he moves right in front of me, I don't see him; quietly but surely he's active, and I miss it.

12 If he steals you blind, who can stop him? Who's going to say, 'Hey, what are you doing?'

13 God doesn't hold back on his anger; even dragon-bred monsters cringe before him.

14 "So how could I ever argue with him, construct a defense that would influence God?

15 Even though I'm innocent I could never prove it; I can only throw myself on the Judge's mercy.

16 If I called on God and he himself answered me, then, and only then, would I believe that he'd heard me.

17 As it is, he knocks me about from pillar to post, beating me up, black and blue, for no good reason.

18 He won't even let me catch my breath, piles bitterness upon bitterness.

19 If it's a question of who's stronger, he wins, hands down! If it's a question of justice, who'll serve him the subpoena?

20 Even though innocent, anything I say incriminates me; blameless as I am, my defense just makes me sound worse. If God's Not Responsible, Who Is?

21 "Believe me, I'm blameless. I don't understand what's going on. I hate my life!

22 Since either way it ends up the same, I can only conclude that God destroys the good right along with the bad.

23 When calamity hits and brings sudden death, he folds his arms, aloof from the despair of the innocent.

24 He lets the wicked take over running the world, he installs judges who can't tell right from wrong. If he's not responsible, who is?

25 "My time is short - what's left of my life races off too fast for me to even glimpse the good.

26 My life is going fast, like a ship under full sail, like an eagle plummeting to its prey.

27 Even if I say, 'I'll put all this behind me, I'll look on the bright side and force a smile,'

28 All these troubles would still be like grit in my gut since it's clear you're not going to let up.

29 The verdict has already been handed down - 'Guilty!' - so what's the use of protests or appeals?

30 Even if I scrub myself all over and wash myself with the strongest soap I can find,

31 It wouldn't last - you'd push me into a pigpen, or worse, so nobody could stand me for the stink.

32 "God and I are not equals; I can't bring a case against him. We'll never enter a courtroom as peers.

33 How I wish we had an arbitrator to step in and let me get on with life -

34 To break God's death grip on me, to free me from this terror so I could breathe again.

35 Then I'd speak up and state my case boldly. As things stand, there is no way I can do it.