Job 9 :: New International Version (NIV)

Job

Job 9:1

Job 9:1Then Job replied:

Job 9:2

Job 9:2“Indeed, I know that this is true. But how can mere mortals prove their innocence before God?

Job 9:3

Job 9:3Though they wished to dispute with him, they could not answer him one time out of a thousand.

Job 9:4

Job 9:4His wisdom is profound, his power is vast. Who has resisted him and come out unscathed?

Job 9:5

Job 9:5He moves mountains without their knowing it and overturns them in his anger.

Job 9:6

Job 9:6He shakes the earth from its place and makes its pillars tremble.

Job 9:7

Job 9:7He speaks to the sun and it does not shine; he seals off the light of the stars.

Job 9:8

Job 9:8He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea.

Job 9:9

Job 9:9He is the Maker of the Bear[fn] and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.

Job 9:10

Job 9:10He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.

Job 9:11

Job 9:11When he passes me, I cannot see him; when he goes by, I cannot perceive him.

Job 9:12

Job 9:12If he snatches away, who can stop him? Who can say to him, ‘What are you doing?’

Job 9:13

Job 9:13God does not restrain his anger; even the cohorts of Rahab cowered at his feet.

Job 9:14

Job 9:14“How then can I dispute with him? How can I find words to argue with him?

Job 9:15

Job 9:15Though I were innocent, I could not answer him; I could only plead with my Judge for mercy.

Job 9:16

Job 9:16Even if I summoned him and he responded, I do not believe he would give me a hearing.

Job 9:17

Job 9:17He would crush me with a storm and multiply my wounds for no reason.

Job 9:18

Job 9:18He would not let me catch my breath but would overwhelm me with misery.

Job 9:19

Job 9:19If it is a matter of strength, he is mighty! And if it is a matter of justice, who can challenge him[fn]?

Job 9:20

Job 9:20Even if I were innocent, my mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, it would pronounce me guilty.

Job 9:21

Job 9:21“Although I am blameless, I have no concern for myself; I despise my own life.

Job 9:22

Job 9:22It is all the same; that is why I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’

Job 9:23

Job 9:23When a scourge brings sudden death, he mocks the despair of the innocent.

Job 9:24

Job 9:24When a land falls into the hands of the wicked, he blindfolds its judges. If it is not he, then who is it?

Job 9:25

Job 9:25“My days are swifter than a runner; they fly away without a glimpse of joy.

Job 9:26

Job 9:26They skim past like boats of papyrus, like eagles swooping down on their prey.

Job 9:27

Job 9:27If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will change my expression, and smile,’

Job 9:28

Job 9:28I still dread all my sufferings, for I know you will not hold me innocent.

Job 9:29

Job 9:29Since I am already found guilty, why should I struggle in vain?

Job 9:30

Job 9:30Even if I washed myself with soap and my hands with cleansing powder,

Job 9:31

Job 9:31you would plunge me into a slime pit so that even my clothes would detest me.

Job 9:32

Job 9:32“He is not a mere mortal like me that I might answer him, that we might confront each other in court.

Job 9:33

Job 9:33If only there were someone to mediate between us, someone to bring us together,

Job 9:34

Job 9:34someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more.

Job 9:35

Job 9:35Then I would speak up without fear of him, but as it now stands with me, I cannot.

See the NIV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NIV Footnotes

(9:9)

Or of Leo

(9:19)

See Septuagint; Hebrew me.

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.

See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the NIV Preface.