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Text -- Job 9:1-26 (NET)
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Strongs On/Off
Context
Job’s Reply to Bildad
9:1 Then Job answered :
9:2 “Truly , I know that this is so . But how can a human be just before God ?
9:3 If someone wishes to contend with him, he cannot answer him one time in a thousand .
9:4 He is wise in heart and mighty in strength – who has resisted him and remained safe ?
9:5 He who removes mountains suddenly, who overturns them in his anger ;
9:6 he who shakes the earth out of its place so that its pillars tremble ;
9:7 he who commands the sun and it does not shine and seals up the stars ;
9:8 he alone spreads out the heavens , and treads on the waves of the sea ;
9:9 he makes the Bear , Orion , and the Pleiades , and the constellations of the southern sky;
9:10 he does great and unsearchable things , and wonderful things without number .
9:11 If he passes by me, I cannot see him, if he goes by , I cannot perceive him.
9:12 If he snatches away , who can turn him back ? Who dares to say to him, ‘What are you doing ?’
9:13 God does not restrain his anger ; under him the helpers of Rahab lie crushed .
The Impossibility of Facing God in Court
9:14 “How much less, then , can I answer him and choose my words to argue with him!
9:15 Although I am innocent , I could not answer him; I could only plead with my judge for mercy .
9:16 If I summoned him, and he answered me, I would not believe that he would be listening to my voice –
9:17 he who crushes me with a tempest , and multiplies my wounds for no reason .
9:18 He does not allow me to recover my breath , for he fills me with bitterness .
9:19 If it is a matter of strength , most certainly he is the strong one ! And if it is a matter of justice , he will say, ‘Who will summon me?’
9:20 Although I am innocent , my mouth would condemn me; although I am blameless , it would declare me perverse .
9:21 I am blameless . I do not know myself . I despise my life .
Accusation of God’s Justice
9:22 “It is all one ! That is why I say , ‘He destroys the blameless and the guilty .’
9:23 If a scourge brings sudden death , he mocks at the despair of the innocent .
9:24 If a land has been given into the hand of a wicked man, he covers the faces of its judges ; if it is not he, then who is it ?
Renewed Complaint
9:25 “My days are swifter than a runner , they speed by without seeing happiness .
9:26 They glide by like reed boats , like an eagle that swoops down on its prey .
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics
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Names, People and Places:
Dictionary Themes and Topics:
Complaint |
God |
Philosophy |
Job |
Afflictions and Adversities |
Doubting |
Astronomy |
Post |
Orion |
Blasphemy |
Depravity of Mankind |
Pleiades |
Arcturus |
Life |
Impenitence |
Humility |
Eagle |
Power |
Stars |
Perfection |
more
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expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes -> Job 9:1; Job 9:2; Job 9:2; Job 9:2; Job 9:2; Job 9:2; Job 9:3; Job 9:3; Job 9:3; Job 9:4; Job 9:4; Job 9:4; Job 9:4; Job 9:4; Job 9:4; Job 9:5; Job 9:5; Job 9:6; Job 9:6; Job 9:7; Job 9:7; Job 9:7; Job 9:7; Job 9:8; Job 9:8; Job 9:9; Job 9:9; Job 9:9; Job 9:9; Job 9:10; Job 9:10; Job 9:11; Job 9:11; Job 9:11; Job 9:11; Job 9:12; Job 9:12; Job 9:13; Job 9:13; Job 9:13; Job 9:14; Job 9:14; Job 9:14; Job 9:14; Job 9:14; Job 9:14; Job 9:15; Job 9:15; Job 9:15; Job 9:15; Job 9:15; Job 9:16; Job 9:16; Job 9:17; Job 9:17; Job 9:17; Job 9:18; Job 9:18; Job 9:18; Job 9:19; Job 9:19; Job 9:19; Job 9:19; Job 9:20; Job 9:20; Job 9:20; Job 9:20; Job 9:21; Job 9:21; Job 9:21; Job 9:22; Job 9:22; Job 9:22; Job 9:23; Job 9:23; Job 9:23; Job 9:23; Job 9:23; Job 9:24; Job 9:24; Job 9:24; Job 9:24; Job 9:24; Job 9:25; Job 9:25; Job 9:26; Job 9:26; Job 9:26; Job 9:26
NET Notes: Job 9:1 This speech of Job in response to Bildad falls into two large sections, chs. 9 and 10. In ch. 9 he argues that God’s power and majesty prevent h...
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NET Notes: Job 9:2 The point of Job’s rhetorical question is that man cannot be justified as against God, because God is too powerful and too clever – he con...
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NET Notes: Job 9:3 This use of the imperfect as potential imperfect assumes that the human is the subject, that in a dispute with God he could not answer one of God̵...
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NET Notes: Job 9:4 The use of שָׁלֵם (shalem) in the Qal is rare. It has been translated “remain safe” by E. Dhorme, R...
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NET Notes: Job 9:5 This line beginning with the relative pronoun can either be read as a parallel description of God, or it can be subordinated by the relative pronoun t...
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NET Notes: Job 9:6 The verb הִתְפַלָּצ (hitfallats) is found only here, but the root seems clearly to mean ...
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NET Notes: Job 9:8 The reference is probably to the waves of the sea. This is the reading preserved in NIV and NAB, as well as by J. Crenshaw, “Wÿdorek `al-ba...
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NET Notes: Job 9:10 There is probably great irony in Job’s using this same verse as in 5:9. But Job’s meaning here is different than Eliphaz.
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NET Notes: Job 9:11 Like the mountains, Job knows that God has passed by and caused him to shake and tremble, but he cannot understand or perceive the reasons.
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NET Notes: Job 9:12 The verb is the Hiphil imperfect (potential again) from שׁוּב (shuv). In this stem it can mean “turn back, refute,...
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NET Notes: Job 9:13 The verb שָׁחַח (shakhakh) means “to be prostrate” or “to crouch.” Here the enemies are pr...
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NET Notes: Job 9:14 The LXX goes a different way after changing the first person to the third: “Oh then that he would hearken to me, or judge my cause.”
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NET Notes: Job 9:16 The Hiphil imperfect in the apodosis of this conditional sentence expresses what would (not) happen if God answered the summons.
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NET Notes: Job 9:17 חִנָּם (khinnam) is adverbial, meaning “gratuitously, without a cause, for no reason, undeservedly.” S...
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NET Notes: Job 9:18 The meaning of the word is “to satiate; to fill,” as in “drink to the full, be satisfied.” Job is satiated – in the nega...
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NET Notes: Job 9:19 Job is saying that whether it is a trial of strength or an appeal to justice, he is unable to go against God.
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NET Notes: Job 9:20 The verb עָקַשׁ (’aqash) means “to be twisted; to be tortuous.” The Piel has a meaning “to...
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NET Notes: Job 9:21 Job believes he is blameless and not deserving of all this suffering; he will hold fast to that claim, even if the future is uncertain, especially if ...
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NET Notes: Job 9:22 The relationships of these clauses is in some question. Some think that the poet has inverted the first two, and so they should read, “That is w...
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NET Notes: Job 9:24 This seems to be a broken-off sentence (anacoluthon), and so is rather striking. The scribes transposed the words אֵפוֹ&...
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NET Notes: Job 9:25 Job returns to the thought of the brevity of his life (7:6). But now the figure is the swift runner instead of the weaver’s shuttle.
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