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Job Replies: There Is No Mediator

Then Job answered:

“Indeed, I know that this is so,
    but how can a mortal be just before God?(A)
If one wished to contend with him,
    one could not answer him once in a thousand.(B)
He is wise in heart and mighty in strength;
    who has resisted him and succeeded?(C)
He removes mountains, and they do not know it
    when he overturns them in his anger;
he shakes the earth out of its place,
    and its pillars tremble;(D)
he commands the sun, and it does not rise;
    he seals up the stars;
he alone stretched out the heavens
    and trampled the waves of the Sea;[a](E)
he made the Bear and Orion,
    the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;(F)
10 he does great things beyond understanding
    and marvelous things without number.(G)
11 Look, he passes by me, and I do not see him;
    he moves on, but I do not perceive him.(H)
12 He snatches away; who can stop him?
    Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’(I)

13 “God will not turn back his anger;
    the helpers of Rahab bowed beneath him.(J)
14 How then can I answer him,
    choosing my words with him?
15 Though I am innocent, I cannot answer him;
    I must appeal to my accuser for my right.(K)
16 If I summoned him and he answered me,
    I do not believe that he would listen to my voice.
17 For he crushes me with a tempest
    and multiplies my wounds without cause;(L)
18 he will not let me get my breath
    but fills me with bitterness.(M)
19 If it is a contest of strength, he is the strong one!
    If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?[b]
20 Though I am innocent, my own mouth would condemn me;
    though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
21 I am blameless; I do not know myself;
    I loathe my life.(N)
22 It is all one; therefore I say,
    ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’(O)
23 When disaster brings sudden death,
    he mocks at the calamity[c] of the innocent.(P)
24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;
    he covers the eyes of its judges—
    if it is not he, who then is it?(Q)

25 “My days are swifter than a runner;
    they flee away; they see no good.
26 They go by like skiffs of reed,
    like an eagle swooping on the prey.(R)
27 If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint;
    I will put off my sad countenance and be of good cheer,’
28 I become afraid of all my suffering,
    for I know you will not hold me innocent.
29 I shall be condemned;
    why then do I labor in vain?(S)
30 If I wash myself with soap
    and cleanse my hands with lye,(T)
31 yet you will plunge me into filth,
    and my own clothes will abhor me.
32 For he is not a mortal, as I am, that I might answer him,
    that we should come to trial together.(U)
33 There is no mediator[d] between us,
    who might lay his hand on us both.(V)
34 If he would take his rod away from me
    and not let dread of him terrify me,(W)
35 then I would speak without fear of him,
    for I know I am not what I am thought to be.[e]

Job: I Loathe My Life

10 “I loathe my life;
    I will give free utterance to my complaint;
    I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.(X)
I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me;
    let me know why you contend against me.(Y)
Does it seem good to you to oppress,
    to despise the work of your hands
    and favor the schemes of the wicked?(Z)
Do you have eyes of flesh?
    Do you see as humans see?(AA)
Are your days like the days of mortals
    or your years like human years,(AB)
that you seek out my iniquity
    and search for my sin,
although you know that I am not guilty,
    and there is no one to deliver out of your hand?(AC)
Your hands fashioned and made me,
    and now you turn and destroy me.[f](AD)
Remember that you fashioned me like clay,
    and will you turn me to dust again?(AE)
10 Did you not pour me out like milk
    and curdle me like cheese?(AF)
11 You clothed me with skin and flesh
    and knit me together with bones and sinews.
12 You have granted me life and steadfast love,
    and your care has preserved my spirit.(AG)
13 Yet these things you hid in your heart;
    I know that this was your purpose.
14 If I sin, you watch me
    and do not acquit me of my iniquity.(AH)
15 If I am wicked, woe to me!
    If I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head,
for I am filled with disgrace
    and look upon my affliction.(AI)
16 Bold as a lion you hunt me;
    you repeat your exploits against me.(AJ)
17 You renew your witnesses against me
    and increase your vexation toward me;
    you bring fresh troops against me.[g](AK)

18 “ ‘Why did you bring me forth from the womb?
    Would that I had died before any eye had seen me(AL)
19 and were as though I had not been,
    carried from the womb to the grave.
20 Are not the days of my life few?[h]
    Let me alone, that I may find a little comfort[i](AM)
21 before I go, never to return,
    to the land of gloom and deep darkness,
22 the land of gloom[j] and chaos,
    where light is like darkness.’ ”

Footnotes

  1. 9.8 Or trampled the back of the sea dragon
  2. 9.19 Compare Gk: Heb me
  3. 9.23 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  4. 9.33 Another reading is Would that there were a mediator
  5. 9.35 Cn: Heb for I am not so in myself
  6. 10.8 Cn Compare Gk Syr: Heb made me together all around, and you destroy me
  7. 10.17 Cn Compare Gk: Heb toward me; changes and a troop are with me
  8. 10.20 Cn Compare Gk Syr: Heb Are not my days few? Let him cease!
  9. 10.20 Heb that I may brighten up a little
  10. 10.22 Heb gloom as darkness, deep darkness