The Need For A Mediator

¹ Then Job replied:

² "Indeed, I know that this is true.
But how can a mortal be righteous before God?

³ Though one wished to dispute with him,
he could not answer him one time out of a thousand.

⁴ His wisdom is profound, his power is vast.
Who has resisted him and come out unscathed?

⁵ He moves mountains without their knowing it
and overturns them in his anger.

⁶ He shakes the earth from its place
and makes its pillars tremble.

⁷ He speaks to the sun and it does not shine;
he seals off the light of the stars.

⁸ He alone stretches out the heavens
and treads on the waves of the sea.

⁹ He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion,
the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.

¹⁰ He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed,
miracles that cannot be counted.

¹¹ When he passes me, I cannot see him;
when he goes by, I cannot perceive him.

¹² If he snatches away, who can stop him?
Who can say to him, 'What are you doing?'

¹³ God does not restrain his anger;
even the cohorts of Rahab cowered at his feet.

¹⁴ "How then can I dispute with him?
How can I find words to argue with him?

¹⁵ Though I were innocent, I could not answer him;
I could only plead with my Judge for mercy.

¹⁶ Even if I summoned him and he responded,
I do not believe he would give me a hearing.

¹⁷ He would crush me with a storm
and multiply my wounds for no reason.

¹⁸ He would not let me regain my breath
but would overwhelm me with misery.

¹⁹ If it is a matter of strength, he is mighty!
And if it is a matter of justice, who will summon him

²⁰ Even if I were innocent, my mouth would condemn me;
if I were blameless, it would pronounce me guilty.

²¹ "Although I am blameless,
I have no concern for myself;
I despise my own life.

²² It is all the same; that is why I say,
'He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.'

²³ When a scourge brings sudden death,
he mocks the despair of the innocent.

²⁴ When a land falls into the hands of the wicked,
he blindfolds its judges.
If it is not he, then who is it?

²⁵ "My days are swifter than a runner;
they fly away without a glimpse of joy.

²⁶ They skim past like boats of papyrus,
like eagles swooping down on their prey.

²⁷ If I say, 'I will forget my complaint,
I will change my expression, and smile,'

²⁸ I still dread all my sufferings,
for I know you will not hold me innocent.

²⁹ Since I am already found guilty,
why should I struggle in vain?

³⁰ Even if I washed myself with soap
and my hands with washing soda,

³¹ you would plunge me into a slime pit
so that even my clothes would detest me.

³² "He is not a man like me that I might answer him,
that we might confront each other in court.

³³ If only there were someone to arbitrate between us,
to lay his hand upon us both,

³⁴ someone to remove God's rod from me,
so that his terror would frighten me no more.

³⁵ Then I would speak up without fear of him,
but as it now stands with me, I cannot.

¹ "I loathe my very life;
therefore I will give free rein to my complaint
and speak out in the bitterness of my soul.

² I will say to God: Do not condemn me,
but tell me what charges you have against me.

³ Does it please you to oppress me,
to spurn the work of your hands,
while you smile on the schemes of the wicked?

⁴ Do you have eyes of flesh?
Do you see as a mortal sees?

⁵ Are your days like those of a mortal
or your years like those of a man,

⁶ that you must search out my faults
and probe after my sin-

⁷ though you know that I am not guilty
and that no one can rescue me from your hand?

⁸ "Your hands shaped me and made me.
Will you now turn and destroy me?

⁹ Remember that you molded me like clay.
Will you now turn me to dust again?

¹⁰ Did you not pour me out like milk
and curdle me like cheese,

¹¹ clothe me with skin and flesh
and knit me together with bones and sinews?

¹² You gave me life and showed me kindness,
and in your providence watched over my spirit.

¹³ "But this is what you concealed in your heart,
and I know that this was in your mind:

¹⁴ If I sinned, you would be watching me
and would not let my offense go unpunished.

¹⁵ If I am guilty—woe to me!
Even if I am innocent, I cannot lift my head,
for I am full of shame
and drowned in my affliction.

¹⁶ If I hold my head high, you stalk me like a lion
and again display your awesome power against me.

¹⁷ You bring new witnesses against me
and increase your anger toward me;
your forces come against me wave upon wave.

¹⁸ "Why then did you bring me out of the womb?
I wish I had died before any eye saw me.

¹⁹ If only I had never come into being,
or had been carried straight from the womb to the grave!

²⁰ Are not my few days almost over?
Turn away from me so I can have a moment's joy

²¹ before I go to the place of no return,
to the land of gloom and deep shadow,

²² to the land of deepest night,
of deep shadow and disorder,
where even the light is like darkness."

New International Version