Job: There is no mediator
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Then Job answered and said,
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“I truly know that this is so. But how can a person be in the right with God?
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If he wants to argue with God, he cannot answer him once in a thousand times.
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God is wise in heart and mighty in strength; who has ever hardened himself against him and succeeded?-
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he who removes the mountains without warning anyone when he overturns them in his anger-
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he who shakes the earth out of its place and sets its supports trembling.
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It is the same God who tells the sun not to rise, and it does not, and who covers up the stars,
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who by himself stretches out the heavens and tramples down the waves of the sea,
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who makes the Bear, Orion, the Pleiades, and the constellations of the south.
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It is the same God who does great things, incomprehensible things-indeed, marvelous things without number.
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See, he goes by me, and I do not see him; he passes on also, but I do not perceive him.
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If he takes something away, who can stop him? Who can say to him, ‘What are you doing?’
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God will not withdraw his anger; the helpers of Rahab bow beneath him.
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How much less could I answer him, could I choose words to reason with him?
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Even if I were righteous, I could not answer him; I could only plead for mercy with my judge.
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Even if I called and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.
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For he breaks me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause.
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He does not even allow me to catch my breath; instead, he fills me with bitterness.
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If it is a matter of strength, behold!, he is mighty! If it is a matter of justice who can summon him?
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Though I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; and thought I am blameless, my words would prove me to be guilty.
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I am blameless, but I do not care any more about myself; I despise my own life.
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It makes no difference, which is why I say that he destroys blameless people and wicked people together.
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If a plague should suddenly kill, he would laugh at the afflictions of innocent people.
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The earth is given into the hand of wicked people; God covers the faces of its judges. If it is not he who does it, then who is it?
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My days are swifter than a running messenger; my days flee away; they see no good anywhere.
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They are as fast as papyrus reed boats, and as fast as the eagle that swoops down on its victim.
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If I said that I would forget about my complaints, that I would take off my sad face and be happy,
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I would be afraid of all my sorrows because I know that you will not consider me innocent.
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I will be condemned; why, then, should I try in vain?
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If I washed myself with snow water and made my hands ever so clean,
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God would plunge me in a ditch, and my own clothes would be disgusted with me.
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For God is not a man, as I am, that I could answer him, that we could come together in court.
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There is no judge between us who might lay his hand upon us both.
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There is no other judge who could take God’s rod off me, who could keep his terror from frightening me.
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Then would I speak up and not fear him. But as things are now, I cannot do that.
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