Job Answers
Job agrees God is beyond argument, and that is the problem. No one can summon him to court, and even a blameless man's mouth would condemn him. Job says God destroys blameless and wicked alike, and longs for a mediator to lay a hand on both.
9 1Then Job answered: 2"Truly I know that this is so. But how can a mortal be righteous before God? 3If one wished to contend with him, he could not answer him once in 1,000 times. 4He is wise in heart and mighty in strength—who has ever defied him and come through unharmed? 5He removes mountains before they know it, overturning them in his anger. 6He shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble. 7He commands the sun, and it does not rise; he seals up the stars. 8He alone stretched out the heavens and tramples the waves of the sea. 9He made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the constellations of the southern sky. 10He does great things beyond fathoming, marvelous things beyond number. 11Look—he passes by me, and I do not see him; he moves on, but I do not perceive him. 12If he snatches away, who can turn him back? Who will say to him, 'What are you doing?' 13God will not turn back his anger; beneath him the helpers of the sea monster Rahab lay crushed. a a v13 Rahab here is not the woman of Jericho but an ancient name for the chaos-monster of the sea — a poetic image of every power that resists God. 14How much less can I answer him, or choose my words to argue with him? 15Though I were in the right, I could not answer him; I could only plead with my judge for mercy. 16If I called and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice. 17For he crushes me with a storm and multiplies my wounds without cause. 18He will not let me catch my breath, but fills me with bitterness. 19If it is a matter of strength, he is the mighty one! And if it is a matter of justice, who can summon him to court? 20Though I were in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; though I were blameless, it would prove me perverse. 21I am blameless; I no longer care about myself; I despise my own life. 22It is all the same; therefore I say, he destroys both the blameless and the wicked. 23When sudden disaster brings death, he mocks the despair of the innocent. 24The earth is handed over to the wicked; he blindfolds its judges. If it is not he, then who? 25My days are swifter than a runner; they flee away, they see no good. 26They skim past like boats of reed, like an eagle swooping down on its prey. 27If I say, 'I will forget my complaint, I will put aside my gloomy face and be cheerful,' 28I dread all my pains, for I know you will not declare me innocent. 29I will be condemned; why then should I labor in vain? 30If I washed myself with snow and cleansed my hands with lye, 31yet you would plunge me into the pit, and my own clothes would loathe me. 32For he is not a man like me, that I could answer him, that we could go to court together. 33There is no mediator between us, who could lay his hand on us both. b b v33 Job aches for someone who could stand between him and God — a mediator who could lay a hand on both. The longing finds its answer in Jesus, the one mediator between God and people (1 Tim 2:5). 34Let him take his rod away from me, and let the dread of him no longer terrify me. 35Then I would speak without fearing him; but as it is, I am not free to do so."
