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          DASV: Job 9    

1 Then Job answered,
2 "Obviously I know that this is so.
     But how can a person be just before God?
3 If someone wanted to contend with him,
      he could not answer him once in a thousand times.
4 He is wise in heart and mighty in strength,
     who has resisted him and succeeded?
5 He moves mountains and they do not know it,
      when he overturns them in his anger.
6 He shakes the earth out of its place,
      and its pillars tremble.
7 He commands the sun and it does not rise,
     and he seals up the stars.
8 He alone stretches out the heavens,
     and treads on the wave crests of the sea.
9 He makes the Bear, Orion and the Pleiades,
     and the southern constellations.
10 He does great things beyond finding out,
     yes, marvelous things without number.
11 He passes by me, but I cannot see him,
     he moves on, but I cannot perceive him.
12 If he snatches away, who can stop him?
     Who can say to him, 'What are you doing?'
13 God will not restrain his anger,
     the helpers of the sea monster Rahab bow beneath him.

14 How then can I answer him?
      how can I choose my words to argue with him?
15 Even though I am righteous, I could not answer him,
      I could only plead to my judge for mercy.
16 If I could summon him and he would answer me,
      I do not believe that he would listen to my voice.
17 For he crushes me with a tempest,
      and multiplies my wounds for no reason.
18 He will not let me catch my breath,
      but fills me with bitterness.
19 If it is a question of strength, he is the strong one!
      If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?
20 Though I am right, my own mouth would condemn me.
      Though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.

21 I am blameless.
     It does not matter to me.
           I despise my life.
22 It is all the same.
      Therefore I say,
           'He destroys the blameless and the wicked.'
23 If disaster results in sudden death,
      he mocks the calamity of the innocent.
24 The earth has been given into the hand of the wicked,
      yet he covers the faces blinding its judges.
           If it is not he, then who is it?

25 Now my days are swifter than a runner,
      they flee away without seeing any good.
26 They glide by like papyrus boats,
      as the eagle swooping down on its prey.
27 If I say, 'I will forget my complaint,
      I will put off my sad face, and be of good cheer.'
28 I am afraid of all my sorrows,
      I know you will not hold me innocent.
29 I will be condemned.
      Why then do I weary myself in vain?
30 If I wash myself with soap,
      and make my hands clean with lye,
31 yet you will plunge me into a slimy pit,
      and my own clothes will abhor me.
32 For he is not a human being like I am,
      that I might answer him,
           that we could go to court against each other.
33 There is no mediator between us,
      who might lay his hand on both of us,
34 who might take his rod away from me,
      so that his terror would not frighten me.
35 Then I would speak and not fear him,
      but I am not able to do it by myself.

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