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