New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition, 1993

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Job Chapter 9 (NRSVCE)

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¹ Then Job answered:

² “Indeed I know that this is so; but how can a mortal be just before God?

³ If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand.

⁴ He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength — who has resisted him, and succeeded? —

⁵ he who removes mountains, and they do not know it, when he overturns them in his anger;

⁶ who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble;

⁷ who commands the sun, and it does not rise; who seals up the stars;

⁸ who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the Sea; [1]

⁹ who made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;

¹⁰ who does great things beyond understanding, and marvelous things without number.

¹¹ Look, he passes by me, and I do not see him; he moves on, but I do not perceive him.

¹² He snatches away; who can stop him? Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’

¹³ “God will not turn back his anger; the helpers of Rahab bowed beneath him.

¹⁴ How then can I answer him, choosing my words with him?

¹⁵ Though I am innocent, I cannot answer him; I must appeal for mercy to my accuser. [2]

¹⁶ If I summoned him and he answered me, I do not believe that he would listen to my voice.

¹⁷ For he crushes me with a tempest, and multiplies my wounds without cause;

¹⁸ he will not let me get my breath, but fills me with bitterness.

¹⁹ If it is a contest of strength, he is the strong one! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him? [3]

²⁰ Though I am innocent, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.

²¹ I am blameless; I do not know myself; I loathe my life.

²² It is all one; therefore I say, he destroys both the blameless and the wicked.

²³ When disaster brings sudden death, he mocks at the calamity [4] of the innocent.

²⁴ 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?

²⁵ “My days are swifter than a runner; they flee away, they see no good.

²⁶ They go by like skiffs of reed, like an eagle swooping on the prey.

²⁷ If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint; I will put off my sad countenance and be of good cheer,’

²⁸ I become afraid of all my suffering, for I know you will not hold me innocent.

²⁹ I shall be condemned; why then do I labor in vain?

³⁰ If I wash myself with soap and cleanse my hands with lye,

³¹ yet you will plunge me into filth, and my own clothes will abhor me.

³² For he is not a mortal, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together.

³³ There is no umpire [5] between us, who might lay his hand on us both.

³⁴ If he would take his rod away from me, and not let dread of him terrify me,

³⁵ then I would speak without fear of him, for I know I am not what I am thought to be. [6]

#	NRSVCE
1	Then Job answered:
2	“Indeed I know that this is so; but how can a mortal be just before God?
3	If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand.
4	He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength — who has resisted him, and succeeded? —
5	he who removes mountains, and they do not know it, when he overturns them in his anger;
6	who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble;
7	who commands the sun, and it does not rise; who seals up the stars;
8	who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the Sea; [1]
9	who made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;
10	who does great things beyond understanding, and marvelous things without number.
11	Look, he passes by me, and I do not see him; he moves on, but I do not perceive him.
12	He snatches away; who can stop him? Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’
13	“God will not turn back his anger; the helpers of Rahab bowed beneath him.
14	How then can I answer him, choosing my words with him?
15	Though I am innocent, I cannot answer him; I must appeal for mercy to my accuser. [2]
16	If I summoned him and he answered me, I do not believe that he would listen to my voice.
17	For he crushes me with a tempest, and multiplies my wounds without cause;
18	he will not let me get my breath, but fills me with bitterness.
19	If it is a contest of strength, he is the strong one! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him? [3]
20	Though I am innocent, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
21	I am blameless; I do not know myself; I loathe my life.
22	It is all one; therefore I say, he destroys both the blameless and the wicked.
23	When disaster brings sudden death, he mocks at the calamity [4] of the innocent.
24	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?
25	“My days are swifter than a runner; they flee away, they see no good.
26	They go by like skiffs of reed, like an eagle swooping on the prey.
27	If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint; I will put off my sad countenance and be of good cheer,’
28	I become afraid of all my suffering, for I know you will not hold me innocent.
29	I shall be condemned; why then do I labor in vain?
30	If I wash myself with soap and cleanse my hands with lye,
31	yet you will plunge me into filth, and my own clothes will abhor me.
32	For he is not a mortal, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together.
33	There is no umpire [5] between us, who might lay his hand on us both.
34	If he would take his rod away from me, and not let dread of him terrify me,
35	then I would speak without fear of him, for I know I am not what I am thought to be. [6]

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