LEB JOB section

Job’s Third Speech: A Response to Bildad

9 Then[fn] Job answered and said,

2 it is so, but[fn] how can a human being be just before God?
3  he cannot answer him one time in a thousand.
4 He is wise in[fn] heart and mighty in[fn] strength; who has resisted him and succeeded?[fn]
5 He is the one who moves mountains, and they do not know how, who overturns them in his anger.
6 He is the one who shakes the earth from its place, and its pillars tremble.
7 He is the one who commands the sun, and it does not rise,[fn]
8 He is the one who alone stretches out the heavens and who tramples on the waves of the sea.
9 He is the one who made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.
10 He is the one who does great things[fn] and marvelous things[fn]
11 [fn] he passes by me, [fn] and if he should move on,[fn]
12 [fn] he would snatch away, who could turn him? Who could say to him, ‘What are you doing?’
13  beneath him the helpers of Rahab bow.
14 [fn] can I myself[fn] answer him? How can I choose my words with him,
15  From[fn] my judge I must implore grace.
16 him, and he should answer me, I do not believe that he will listen to my voice—
17  and multiplies[fn] my wounds without cause.
18 [fn] my breath; rather, he will fill me with bitterness.
19 [fn] strength, look, he is mighty. But[fn] if [fn] justice, who can summon me?[fn]
20  even though I am blameless, yet[fn] it would pronounce me guilty.
21 am blameless; I do not care about myself;[fn] I loathe my life.
22 is all one; therefore I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
23 [fn] kills suddenly, he mocks at the despair of the innocent.
24 the hand of the wicked; he covers the face of its judge—
if it is not he, then who is it?
25  they flee away; they do not see good.
26  like an eagle swoops down on its prey.
27 [fn] [fn] ‘I will forget my complaint; I will change my expression, and I will rejoice,’
28  I know that you do not consider me innocent.
29 If I shall be declared guilty, why then should I labor in vain?
30 [fn] and I cleanse my hands with lye,
31 slime pit, and my clothes abhor me.
32 [fn] he is not a mortal like me that I can answer him, that[fn]
33  that he might lay his hand on both of us.
34  and let his dread not terrify me;
35 then I would speak and not fear him,[fn] for[fn]

9:1 Hebrew “And”

9:1 Hebrew “and”

9:1 Hebrew “of”

9:1 Literally “he succeeded”

9:1 Literally “and behind the stars he seals up”

9:1 Literally “until there is not understanding”

9:1 Literally “until there is not number”

9:1 Literally “Look”

9:1 Literally “and I would not see”

9:1 Literally “and I would not recognize him”

9:1 Literally “Look”

9:1 Literally “Also for”

9:1 Emphatic personal pronoun

9:1 Hebrew “To”

9:1 Hebrew “he multiplies”

9:1 Literally “return,” or “regain”

9:1 Literally “for”; see NASB, NIV, NET

9:1 Hebrew “And”

9:1 Literally “for”; NASB, NIV, NET, NRSV

9:1 Or “arraign me”

9:1 Hebrew “and”

9:1 Perhaps the meaning is “but it makes no difference to me” (NLT)

9:1 Or “scourge”

9:1 Or “If”

9:1 Literally “my saying”

9:1 Or “with snow,” or “in snow”

9:1 Or the emphatic “Indeed”

9:1 Literally “we come together in the justice,” or “we come together in the judgment”

9:1 Hebrew “and I will not fear him”

9:1 Literally “not so I with me”

LEB by section JOB 9:1

Job’s Third Speech: A Response to Bildad