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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Job 9 NLT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/job/9.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" 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title="Job 8">◄</a> Job 9 <a href="../job/10.htm" title="Job 10">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New Living Translation</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/nlt/esv/job/9.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="hdg">Job’s Third Speech: A Response to Bildad</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>Then Job spoke again:</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>“Yes, I know all this is true in principle.</p><p class="line2">But how can a person be declared innocent in God’s sight?</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>If someone wanted to take God to court,<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">a</span></a></p><p class="line2">would it be possible to answer him even once in a thousand times?</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>For God is so wise and so mighty.</p><p class="line2">Who has ever challenged him successfully?</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>“Without warning, he moves the mountains,</p><p class="line2">overturning them in his anger.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>He shakes the earth from its place,</p><p class="line2">and its foundations tremble.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>If he commands it, the sun won’t rise</p><p class="line2">and the stars won’t shine.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>He alone has spread out the heavens</p><p class="line2">and marches on the waves of the sea.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>He made all the stars—the Bear and Orion,</p><p class="line2">the Pleiades and the constellations of the southern sky.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>He does great things too marvelous to understand.</p><p class="line2">He performs countless miracles.</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>“Yet when he comes near, I cannot see him.</p><p class="line2">When he moves by, I do not see him go.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>If he snatches someone in death, who can stop him?</p><p class="line2">Who dares to ask, ‘What are you doing?’</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>And God does not restrain his anger.</p><p class="line2">Even the monsters of the sea<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">b</span></a> are crushed beneath his feet.</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>“So who am I, that I should try to answer God</p><p class="line2">or even reason with him?</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>Even if I were right, I would have no defense.</p><p class="line2">I could only plead for mercy.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>And even if I summoned him and he responded,</p><p class="line2">I’m not sure he would listen to me.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>For he attacks me with a storm</p><p class="line2">and repeatedly wounds me without cause.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>He will not let me catch my breath,</p><p class="line2">but fills me instead with bitter sorrows.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>If it’s a question of strength, he’s the strong one.</p><p class="line2">If it’s a matter of justice, who dares to summon him<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">c</span></a> to court?</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>Though I am innocent, my own mouth would pronounce me guilty.</p><p class="line2">Though I am blameless, it<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">d</span></a> would prove me wicked.</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>“I am innocent,</p><p class="line2">but it makes no difference to me—</p><p class="line2">I despise my life.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>Innocent or wicked, it is all the same to God.</p><p class="line2">That’s why I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>When a plague<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">e</span></a> sweeps through,</p><p class="line2">he laughs at the death of the innocent.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>The whole earth is in the hands of the wicked,</p><p class="line2">and God blinds the eyes of the judges.</p><p class="line2">If he’s not the one who does it, who is?</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>“My life passes more swiftly than a runner.</p><p class="line2">It flees away without a glimpse of happiness.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>It disappears like a swift papyrus boat,</p><p class="line2">like an eagle swooping down on its prey.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>If I decided to forget my complaints,</p><p class="line2">to put away my sad face and be cheerful,</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>I would still dread all the pain,</p><p class="line2">for I know you will not find me innocent, O God.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-29.htm"><b>29</b></a></span>Whatever happens, I will be found guilty.</p><p class="line2">So what’s the use of trying?</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-30.htm"><b>30</b></a></span>Even if I were to wash myself with soap</p><p class="line2">and clean my hands with lye,</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-31.htm"><b>31</b></a></span>you would plunge me into a muddy ditch,</p><p class="line2">and my own filthy clothing would hate me.</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-32.htm"><b>32</b></a></span>“God is not a mortal like me,</p><p class="line2">so I cannot argue with him or take him to trial.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-33.htm"><b>33</b></a></span>If only there were a mediator between us,</p><p class="line2">someone who could bring us together.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-34.htm"><b>34</b></a></span>The mediator could make God stop beating me,</p><p class="line2">and I would no longer live in terror of his punishment.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/job/9-35.htm"><b>35</b></a></span>Then I could speak to him without fear,</p><p class="line2">but I cannot do that in my own strength.</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="fn">a</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">9:3 </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="it">If God wanted to take someone to court.</span><br><span class="fn">b</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">9:13 </span><span class="ft">Hebrew </span><span class="it">the helpers of Rahab,</span><span class="ft"> the name of a mythical sea monster that represents chaos in ancient literature.</span><br><span class="fn">c</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">9:19 </span><span class="ft">As in Greek version; Hebrew reads </span><span class="it">me.</span><br><span class="fn">d</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">9:20 </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="it">he.</span><br><span class="fn">e</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">9:23 </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="it">disaster.</span><br></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><em>Holy Bible</em>, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. 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