Job 9

¹ So Job answered and said: ² "Truly I know that this is so, Yet how can a mortal be righteous before El? ³ If he desires to contend with Him, He shall not answer him one time out of a thousand. ⁴ He is wise in heart and resolute in vigor; Who has stiffened himself against Him and fared well? ⁵ He is the One shifting mountains, and they do not know it, Who overturns them in His anger, ⁶ The One disturbing the earth from its place, So that its columns are shuddering, ⁷ The One speaking to the sun so that it does not rise, And Who places a seal about the stars, ⁸ Who alone is stretching out the heavens, And Who is treading on the high swells of the sea, ⁹ Who is making the Great Bear, Orion And the Pleiades, besides the chambers of the south, ¹⁰ Who is doing great wonders until there can be no fathoming, And marvelous works until there can be numbering. ¹¹ Behold, when He passes before me I cannot see Him, And when He passes by, I cannot detect Him. ¹² Behold, should He abduct, who could turn Him back? Who could say to Him, What are You doing? ¹³ Eloah, He does not reverse His anger; The helpers of Rahab prostrate before Him. ¹⁴ Indeed, how should I answer Him Or choose my words with Him? ¹⁵ I, who, though I were righteous, am not answered When I am supplicating to my Judge, ¹⁶ If I call out, and He should answer me, I could not believe that He is giving ear to my voice. ¹⁷ He Who is hurting me And Who has multiplied my injuries gratuitously, ¹⁸ He does not allow me to get back my wind, But rather He surfeits me with bitterness. ¹⁹ As for vigor, behold the Resolute One, And as for judgment, who can issue an appointment to Him? ²⁰ Though I were righteous my mouth would condemn me; Though I were flawless, He would declare me perverse. ²¹ Were I flawless, I would not know my own soul; I would reject my life. ²² It is all one. Therefore I say, Both the flawless and wicked one Will He bring to their end. ²³ If a scourge brings death suddenly, He derides the trial of the innocent. ²⁴ The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; He covers the faces of its judges; If not He, indeed who is it? ²⁵ My days are fleeter than a runner; They race away without having seen good. ²⁶ They pass on like ships of bulrush, Like the vulture that pounces down on its food. ²⁷ If I say, Let me forget my concern, Let me set my face free and smile, ²⁸ I still shrink before all my griefs; I know that You do not hold me innocent. ²⁹ I am already being condemned; Why is this that I should be wearied in vain? ³⁰ If I washed myself with waters of snow And purged my palms in purity, ³¹ Then You would dip me in the slough, And my own raiments would abhor me. ³² For He is not a man like me that I should assert to Him: Let us come together for judgment. ³³ There is not any arbitrator between us, Who could set his hand on us both. ³⁴ Let Him withdraw His club from me, And let not the dread of Him frighten me. ³⁵ Let me speak and not fear Him, But I am not so within me now."