72 lines
3.1 KiB
Markdown
72 lines
3.1 KiB
Markdown
# Chapter 9
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1 Then Job spoke again:
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2 “Yes, I know all this is true in principle.
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But how can a person be declared innocent in God’s sight?
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3 If someone wanted to take God to court,
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would it be possible to answer him even once in a thousand times?
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4 For God is so wise and so mighty.
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Who has ever challenged him successfully?
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5 “Without warning, he moves the mountains,
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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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and its foundations tremble.
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7 If he commands it, the sun won’t rise
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and the stars won’t shine.
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8 He alone has spread out the heavens
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and marches on the waves of the sea.
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9 He made all the stars—the Bear and Orion,
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the Pleiades and the constellations of the southern sky.
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10 He does great things too marvelous to understand.
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He performs countless miracles.
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11 “Yet when he comes near, I cannot see him.
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When he moves by, I do not see him go.
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12 If he snatches someone in death, who can stop him?
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Who dares to ask, ‘What are you doing?’
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13 And God does not restrain his anger.
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Even the monsters of the sea are crushed beneath his feet.
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14 “So who am I, that I should try to answer God
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or even reason with him?
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15 Even if I were right, I would have no defense.
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I could only plead for mercy.
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16 And even if I summoned him and he responded,
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I’m not sure he would listen to me.
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17 For he attacks me with a storm
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and repeatedly wounds me without cause.
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18 He will not let me catch my breath,
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but fills me instead with bitter sorrows.
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19 If it’s a question of strength, he’s the strong one.
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If it’s a matter of justice, who dares to summon him to court?
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20 Though I am innocent, my own mouth would pronounce me guilty.
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Though I am blameless, it would prove me wicked.
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21 “I am innocent,
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but it makes no difference to me—
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I despise my life.
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22 Innocent or wicked, it is all the same to God.
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That’s why I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
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23 When a plague sweeps through,
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he laughs at the death of the innocent.
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24 The whole earth is in the hands of the wicked,
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and God blinds the eyes of the judges.
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If he’s not the one who does it, who is?
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25 “My life passes more swiftly than a runner.
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It flees away without a glimpse of happiness.
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26 It disappears like a swift papyrus boat,
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like an eagle swooping down on its prey.
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27 If I decided to forget my complaints,
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to put away my sad face and be cheerful,
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28 I would still dread all the pain,
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for I know you will not find me innocent, O God.
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29 Whatever happens, I will be found guilty.
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So what’s the use of trying?
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30 Even if I were to wash myself with soap
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and clean my hands with lye,
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31 you would plunge me into a muddy ditch,
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and my own filthy clothing would hate me.
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32 “God is not a mortal like me,
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so I cannot argue with him or take him to trial.
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33 If only there were a mediator between us,
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someone who could bring us together.
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34 The mediator could make God stop beating me,
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and I would no longer live in terror of his punishment.
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35 Then I could speak to him without fear,
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but I cannot do that in my own strength. |