Job 9

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¹Then Job responded, ²“In truth I know that this is so; But how can a person be in the right with God? ✦ ³“If one wished to dispute with Him, He could not answer Him once in a thousand times. ✦ ⁴“Wise in heart and mighty in strength, Who has defied Him without harm? ✦ ⁵“It is God who removes the mountains, and they do not know how, When He overturns them in His anger. ✦ ⁶“It is He who shakes the earth from its place, And its pillars tremble; ✦ ⁷Who commands the sun not to shine, And puts a seal on the stars; ✦ ⁸Who alone stretches out the heavens, And tramples down the waves of the sea; ✦ ⁹Who makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, And the constellations of the south. ✦ ¹⁰“It is He who does great things, the unfathomable, And wondrous works without number. ✦ ¹¹“If He were to pass by me, I would not see Him; Were He to move past me, I would not perceive Him. ✦ ¹²“If He were to snatch away, who could restrain Him? Who could say to Him, ‘What are You doing?’ ✦ ¹³¶“God will not turn back His anger; Beneath Him the helpers of Rahab cower. ✦ ¹⁴“How then can I answer Him, And choose my words before Him? ✦ ¹⁵“For though I were right, I could not answer; I would have to implore the mercy of my Judge. ✦ ¹⁶“If I called and He answered me, I could not believe that He was listening to my voice. ✦ ¹⁷“For He bruises me with a storm And multiplies my wounds without cause. ✦ ¹⁸“He will not allow me to get my breath, But He saturates me with bitterness. ✦ ¹⁹“If it is a matter of power, behold, He is the strong one! And if it is a matter of justice, who can summon Him? ✦ ²⁰“Though I am righteous, my mouth will condemn me; Though I am guiltless, He will declare me guilty. ✦ ²¹“I am guiltless; I do not take notice of myself; I reject my life. ✦ ²²“It is all one; therefore I say, ‘He destroys the guiltless and the wicked.’ ✦ ²³“If the whip kills suddenly, He mocks the despair of the innocent. ✦ ²⁴“The earth is handed over to the wicked; He covers the faces of its judges. If it is not He, then who is it? ✦ ²⁵¶“Now my days are swifter than a runner; They flee away, they see no good. ✦ ²⁶“They slip by like reed boats, Like an eagle that swoops on its prey. ✦ ²⁷“Though I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will put my face in order and be cheerful,’ ✦ ²⁸I am afraid of all my pains, I know that You will not acquit me. ✦ ²⁹“I am guilty, Why then should I struggle in vain? ✦ ³⁰“If I washed myself with snow, And cleansed my hands with lye, ✦ ³¹Then You would plunge me into the pit, And my own clothes would loathe me. ✦ ³²“For He is not a man, as I am, that I may answer Him— That we may go to court together! ✦ ³³“There is no arbitrator between us, Who can place his hand upon us both. ✦ ³⁴“Let Him remove His rod from me, And let not the dread of Him terrify me. ✦ ³⁵“Then I would speak and not fear Him; But I am not like that in myself.

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Where this chapter connects

Job 9 ·12 Job 10 ·9 Job 33 ·8 Job 23 ·8 Job 7 ·7 Job 38 ·6 Job 34 ·6 Dan 4 ·5

Christ at the center

Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.

How Job 9 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

Pastoral

SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Job videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Job 9YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Job 9David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on JobMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Job 9Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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