• Job: There Is No Mediator

  • 1 Then Job answered and said:
  • 2 “Truly I know it is so, But how can a man be righteous before God?
  • 3 If one wished to contend with Him, He could not answer Him one time out of a thousand.
  • 4 God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against Him and prospered?
  • 5 He removes the mountains, and they do not know When He overturns them in His anger;
  • 6 He shakes the earth out of its place, And its pillars tremble;
  • 7 He commands the sun, and it does not rise; He seals off the stars;
  • 8 He alone spreads out the heavens, And treads on the waves of the sea;
  • 9 He made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, And the chambers of the south;
  • 10 He does great things past finding out, Yes, wonders without number.
  • 11 If He goes by me, I do not see Him; If He moves past, I do not perceive Him;
  • 12 If He takes away, who can hinder Him? Who can say to Him, ‘What are You doing?’
  • 13 God will not withdraw His anger, The allies of the proud lie prostrate beneath Him.
  • 14 “How then can I answer Him, And choose my words to reason with Him?
  • 15 For though I were righteous, I could not answer Him; I would beg mercy of my Judge.
  • 16 If I called and He answered me, I would not believe that He was listening to my voice.
  • 17 For He crushes me with a tempest, And multiplies my wounds without cause.
  • 18 He will not allow me to catch my breath, But fills me with bitterness.
  • 19 If it is a matter of strength, indeed He is strong; And if of justice, who will appoint my day in court?
  • 20 Though I were righteous, my own mouth would condemn me; Though I were blameless, it would prove me perverse.
  • 21 “I am blameless, yet I do not know myself; I despise my life.
  • 22 It is all one thing; Therefore I say, ‘He destroys the blameless and the wicked.’
  • 23 If the scourge slays suddenly, He laughs at the plight of the innocent.
  • 24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If it is not He, who else could it be?
  • 25 “Now my days are swifter than a runner; They flee away, they see no good.
  • 26 They pass by like swift ships, Like an eagle swooping on its prey.
  • 27 If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face and wear a smile,’
  • 28 I am afraid of all my sufferings; I know that You will not hold me innocent.
  • 29 If I am condemned, Why then do I labor in vain?
  • 30 If I wash myself with snow water, And cleanse my hands with soap,
  • 31 Yet You will plunge me into the pit, And my own clothes will abhor me.
  • 32 “For He is not a man, as I am, That I may answer Him, And that we should go to court together.
  • 33 Nor is there any mediator between us, Who may lay his hand on us both.
  • 34 Let Him take His rod away from me, And do not let dread of Him terrify me.
  • 35 Then I would speak and not fear Him, But it is not so with me.