72 lines
2.7 KiB
Markdown
72 lines
2.7 KiB
Markdown
# Chapter 9
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1 Then Job answered:
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2 Yes, I know what you’ve said is true,
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but how can a person be justified before God?
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3 If one wanted to take him to court,
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he could not answer God once in a thousand times.
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4 God is wise and all-powerful.
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Who has opposed him and come out unharmed?
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5 He removes mountains without their knowledge,
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overturning them in his anger.
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6 He shakes the earth from its place
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so that its pillars tremble.
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7 He commands the sun not to shine
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and seals off the stars.
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8 He alone stretches out the heavens
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and treads on the waves of the sea.
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9 He makes the stars: the Bear, Orion,
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the Pleiades, and the constellations of the southern sky.
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10 He does great and unsearchable things,
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wonders without number.
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11 If he passed by me, I wouldn’t see him;
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if he went by, I wouldn’t recognize him.
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12 If he snatches something, who can stop him?
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Who can ask him, “What are you doing?”
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13 God does not hold back his anger;
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Rahab’s assistants cringe in fear beneath him!
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14 How then can I answer him
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or choose my arguments against him?
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15 Even if I were in the right, I could not answer.
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I could only beg my Judge for mercy.
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16 If I summoned him and he answered me,
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I do not believe he would pay attention to what I said.
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17 He batters me with a whirlwind
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and multiplies my wounds without cause.
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18 He doesn’t let me catch my breath
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but fills me with bitter experiences.
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19 If it is a matter of strength, look, he is the powerful one!
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If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?
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20 Even if I were in the right, my own mouth would condemn me;
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if I were blameless, my mouth would declare me guilty.
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21 Though I am blameless,
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I no longer care about myself;
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I renounce my life.
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22 It is all the same. Therefore I say,
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“He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.”
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23 When catastrophe brings sudden death,
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he mocks the despair of the innocent.
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24 The earth is handed over to the wicked;
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he blindfolds its judges.
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If it isn’t he, then who is it?
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25 My days fly by faster than a runner;
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they flee without seeing any good.
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26 They sweep by like boats made of papyrus,
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like an eagle swooping down on its prey.
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27 If I said, “I will forget my complaint,
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change my expression, and smile,”
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28 I would still live in terror of all my pains.
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I know you will not acquit me.
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29 Since I will be found guilty,
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why should I struggle in vain?
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30 If I wash myself with snow,
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and cleanse my hands with lye,
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31 then you dip me in a pit of mud,
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and my own clothes despise me!
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32 For he is not a man like me, that I can answer him,
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that we can take each other to court.
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33 There is no mediator between us,
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to lay his hand on both of us.
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34 Let him take his rod away from me
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so his terror will no longer frighten me.
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35 Then I would speak and not fear him.
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But that is not the case; I am on my own. |