Job: How Can I Contend with God? 1 DRA And Job answered, and said: BSB BSB: Then Job answered:
2 DRA Indeed I know it is so, and that man cannot be justified compared with God. BSB BSB: “Yes, I know that it is so, but how can a mortal be righteous before God?
3 DRA If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one for a thousand. BSB BSB: If one wished to contend with God, he could not answer Him one time out of a thousand.
4 DRA He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath resisted him, and hath had peace? BSB BSB: God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has resisted Him and prospered?
5 DRA Who hath removed mountains, and they whom he overthrew in his wrath, knew it not. BSB BSB: He moves mountains without their knowledge and overturns them in His anger.
6 DRA Who shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble. BSB BSB: He shakes the earth from its place, so that its foundations tremble.
7 DRA Who commandeth tile sun and it riseth not: and shutteth up the stars as it were under a seal: BSB BSB: He commands the sun not to shine; He seals off the stars.
8 DRA Who alone spreadeth out the heavens, and walketh upon the waves of the sea. BSB BSB: He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea.
9 DRA Who maketh Arcturus, and Orion, and Hyades, and the inner parts of the south. BSB BSB: He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion, of the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.
10 DRA Who doth things great and incomprehensible, and wonderful, of which there is no number. BSB BSB: He does great things beyond searching out, and wonders without number.
11 DRA If he come to me, I shall not see him: if he depart I shall not understand. BSB BSB: Were He to pass by me, I would not see Him; were He to move, I would not recognize Him.
12 DRA If he examine on a sudden, who shall answer him? or who can say: Why dost thou so? BSB BSB: If He takes away, who can stop Him? Who dares to ask Him, ‘What are You doing?’
13 DRA God, whose wrath no mall can resist, and under whom they stoop that bear up the world. BSB BSB: God does not restrain His anger; the helpers of Rahab cower beneath Him.
14 DRA What am I then, that I should answer him, and have words with him? BSB BSB: How then can I answer Him or choose my arguments against Him?
15 DRA I, who although I should have any just thing, would not answer, but would make supplication to my judge. BSB BSB: For even if I were right, I could not answer. I could only beg my Judge for mercy.
16 DRA And if he should hear me when I call, I should not believe that he had heard my voice. BSB BSB: If I summoned Him and He answered me, I do not believe He would listen to my voice.
17 DRA For he shall crush me in a whirlwind, and multiply my wounds even without cause. BSB BSB: For He would crush me with a tempest and multiply my wounds without cause.
18 DRA He alloweth not my spirit to rest, and he filleth me with bitterness. BSB BSB: He does not let me catch my breath, but overwhelms me with bitterness.
19 DRA If strength be demanded, he is most strong: if equity of judgment, no man dare bear witness for me. BSB BSB: If it is a matter of strength, He is indeed mighty! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon Him?
20 DRA If I would justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me: if I would shew myself innocent, he shall prove me wicked. BSB BSB: Even if I were righteous, my mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, it would declare me guilty.
21 DRA Although I should be simple, even this my soul shall be ignorant of, and I shall be weary of my life. BSB BSB: Though I am blameless, I have no concern for myself; I despise my own life.
22 DRA One thing there is that I have spoken, both the innocent and the wicked he consumeth. BSB BSB: It is all the same, and so I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
23 DRA If he scourge, let him kill at once, and not laugh at the pains of the innocent. BSB BSB: When the scourge brings sudden death, He mocks the despair of the innocent.
24 DRA The earth is given into the hand of the wicked, he covereth the face of the judges thereof: and if it be not he, who is it then? BSB BSB: The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; He blindfolds its judges. If it is not He, then who is it?
25 DRA My days have been swifter than a post: they have fled away and have not seen good. BSB BSB: My days are swifter than a runner; they flee without seeing good.
26 DRA They have passed by as ships carrying fruits, as an eagle flying to the prey. BSB BSB: They sweep by like boats of papyrus, like an eagle swooping down on its prey.
27 DRA If I say: I will not speak so: I change my face, and am tormented with sorrow. BSB BSB: If I were to say, ‘I will forget my complaint and change my expression and smile,’
28 DRA I feared all my works, knowing that thou didst not spare the offender. BSB BSB: I would still dread all my sufferings; I know that You will not acquit me.
29 DRA But if so also I am wicked, why have I laboured in vain? BSB BSB: Since I am already found guilty, why should I labor in vain?
30 DRA If I be washed as it were with snow waters, and my hands shall shine ever so clean: BSB BSB: If I should wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye,
31 DRA Yet thou shalt plunge me in filth, and my garments shall abhor me, BSB BSB: then You would plunge me into the pit, and even my own clothes would despise me.
32 DRA For I shall not answer a man that is like myself: nor one that may be heard with me equally in judgment. BSB BSB: For He is not a man like me, that I can answer Him, that we can take each other to court.
33 DRA There is none that may be able to reprove both, and to put his hand between both. BSB BSB: Nor is there a mediator between us, to lay his hand upon us both.
34 DRA Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his fear terrify me. BSB BSB: Let Him remove His rod from me, so that His terror will no longer frighten me.
35 DRA I will speak, and will not fear him: for I cannot answer while I am in fear. BSB BSB: Then I would speak without fear of Him. But as it is, I am on my own.
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