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Job Replies: There Is No Mediator

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Then Job answered:

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“Indeed I know that this is so;

but how can a mortal be just before God?

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If one wished to contend with him,

one could not answer him once in a thousand.

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He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength

—who has resisted him, and succeeded?—

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he who removes mountains, and they do not know it,

when he overturns them in his anger;

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who shakes the earth out of its place,

and its pillars tremble;

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who commands the sun, and it does not rise;

who seals up the stars;

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who alone stretched out the heavens

and trampled the waves of the Sea;

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who made the Bear and Orion,

the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;

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who does great things beyond understanding,

and marvelous things without number.

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Look, he passes by me, and I do not see him;

he moves on, but I do not perceive him.

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He snatches away; who can stop him?

Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’

 

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“God will not turn back his anger;

the helpers of Rahab bowed beneath him.

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How then can I answer him,

choosing my words with him?

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Though I am innocent, I cannot answer him;

I must appeal for mercy to my accuser.

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If I summoned him and he answered me,

I do not believe that he would listen to my voice.

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For he crushes me with a tempest,

and multiplies my wounds without cause;

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he will not let me get my breath,

but fills me with bitterness.

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If it is a contest of strength, he is the strong one!

If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?

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Though I am innocent, my own mouth would condemn me;

though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.

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I am blameless; I do not know myself;

I loathe my life.

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It is all one; therefore I say,

he destroys both the blameless and the wicked.

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When disaster brings sudden death,

he mocks at the calamity of the innocent.

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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?

 

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“My days are swifter than a runner;

they flee away, they see no good.

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They go by like skiffs of reed,

like an eagle swooping on the prey.

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If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint;

I will put off my sad countenance and be of good cheer,’

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I become afraid of all my suffering,

for I know you will not hold me innocent.

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I shall be condemned;

why then do I labor in vain?

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If I wash myself with soap

and cleanse my hands with lye,

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yet you will plunge me into filth,

and my own clothes will abhor me.

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For he is not a mortal, as I am, that I might answer him,

that we should come to trial together.

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There is no umpire between us,

who might lay his hand on us both.

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If he would take his rod away from me,

and not let dread of him terrify me,

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then I would speak without fear of him,

for I know I am not what I am thought to be.