Low sun over a wide bare plain: far off at the left a small wrapped figure sits alone beside a low gray mound, with a vast stretch of empty ground beside him under a calm pale sky.

The Book of

Job 9

Job speaks, in round one. Bildad has just asked whether God perverts justice. Job agrees that He does not, and that is the trouble: how do you win a case against God?

35 verses≈ 4 min1 personBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

1–3The testBlameless, stripped of everything, and his cry
4–14Round oneThe friends speak; Job answersChapter 9
15–21Round twoMy Redeemer lives
22–31Round threeThen wisdom, and Job's last defense
32–37ElihuA younger voice
38–41The LORD speaksOut of the whirlwind
42The endJob prays and is restored

Job: How Can I Contend with God?

Job

Then Job answered:

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Job

how can a mortal be righteous before God?

Job 9:2

Job

the helpers of Rahab cower beneath Him

Job 9:13

Reflect

Beyond searching out

Job says God “does great things beyond searching out.” Write down one thing in your life you cannot explain. Can you trust Him with it and leave the explanation with Him?

Job

A wall of dark cloud and dust rolling over bare hills, rain beginning at its foot, with a tiny man and a tent braced before it.

How then can I answer Him

or choose my arguments against Him?

For even if I were right, I could not answer.

I could only beg my Judge for mercy.

If I summoned Him and He answered me,

I do not believe He would listen to my voice.

For He would crush me with a tempest

and multiply my wounds without cause.

He does not let me catch my breath,

but overwhelms me with bitterness.

If it is a matter of strength,

He is indeed mighty!

If it is a matter of justice,

who can summon Him?

Even if I were righteous, my mouth would condemn me;

if I were blameless, it would declare me guilty.

0:37

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Job

Though I am blameless, I have no concern for myself;

I despise my own life.

It is all the same, and so I say,

‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’

When the scourge brings sudden death,

He mocks the despair of the innocent.

The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;

He blindfolds its judges.

If it is not He, then who is it?

Job

Job

For He is not a man like me, that I can answer Him,

that we can take each other to court.

Nor is there a mediator between us,

to lay his hand upon us both.

Let Him remove His rod from me,

so that His terror will no longer frighten me.

Then I would speak without fear of Him.

But as it is, I am on my own.

Job

Nor is there a mediator between us, to lay his hand upon us both.

Job 9:33

Question

Quick question

Job wants to take his case to God, and he cannot.

What does Job say is missing between him and God?

You’ve experienced

Job 9

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A verse to carry with you

Nor is there a mediator between us, to lay his hand upon us both.

Job 9:33

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