Job 9:1-35 CSB

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