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Job 9 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

Job: There Is No Mediator
Job Finds No Comfort
Job 9:1Then Job answered and said:
Job 9:2“Truly I know it is so,
But how can a man be righteous before God?
Job 9:3If one wished to contend with Him,
He could not answer Him one time out of a thousand.
Job 9:4God is wise in heart and mighty in strength.
Who has hardened himself against Him and prospered?
Job 9:5He removes the mountains, and they do not know
When He overturns them in His anger;
Job 9:6He shakes the earth out of its place,
And its pillars tremble;
Job 9:7He commands the sun, and it does not rise;
He seals off the stars;
Job 9:8He alone spreads out the heavens,
And treads on the waves of the sea;
Job 9:9He made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades,
And the chambers of the south;
Job 9:10He does great things past finding out,
Yes, wonders without number.
Job 9:11If He goes by me, I do not see Him;
If He moves past, I do not perceive Him;
Job 9:12If He takes away, who can hinder Him?
Who can say to Him, ‘What are You doing?’
Job 9:13God will not withdraw His anger,
The allies of the proud[fn] lie prostrate beneath Him.
Job 9:14“How then can I answer Him,
And choose my words to reason with Him?
Job 9:15For though I were righteous, I could not answer Him;
I would beg mercy of my Judge.
Job 9:16If I called and He answered me,
I would not believe that He was listening to my voice.
Job 9:17For He crushes me with a tempest,
And multiplies my wounds without cause.
Job 9:18He will not allow me to catch my breath,
But fills me with bitterness.
Job 9:19If it is a matter of strength, indeed He is strong;
And if of justice, who will appoint my day in court?
Job 9:20Though I were righteous, my own mouth would condemn me;
Though I were blameless, it would prove me perverse.
Job 9:21“I am blameless, yet I do not know myself;
I despise my life.
Job 9:22It is all one thing;
Therefore I say, ‘He destroys the blameless and the wicked.’
Job 9:23If the scourge slays suddenly,
He laughs at the plight of the innocent.
Job 9:24The earth is given into the hand of the wicked.
He covers the faces of its judges.
If it is not He, who else could it be?
Job 9:25“Now my days are swifter than a runner;
They flee away, they see no good.
Job 9:26They pass by like swift ships,
Like an eagle swooping on its prey.
Job 9:27If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint,
I will put off my sad face and wear a smile,’
Job 9:28I am afraid of all my sufferings;
I know that You will not hold me innocent.
Job 9:29If I am condemned,
Why then do I labor in vain?
Job 9:30If I wash myself with snow water,
And cleanse my hands with soap,
Job 9:31Yet You will plunge me into the pit,
And my own clothes will abhor me.
Job 9:32“For He is not a man, as I am,
That I may answer Him,
And that we should go to court together.
Job 9:33Nor is there any mediator between us,
Who may lay his hand on us both.
Job 9:34Let Him take His rod away from me,
And do not let dread of Him terrify me.
Job 9:35Then I would speak and not fear Him,
But it is not so with me.
NKJV Footnotes
Hebrew rahab
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Job Chapter 9 — Additional Translations: