Chapter Overview
Summary
Job 9 begins Job's response to Bildad — admitting the foundational-question 'how can a man be in the right before God?' (v. 2, echoing 4:17), and developing the THEME OF THE NEED-FOR-AN-ARBITER (v. 33) — 'there is no umpire between us, who might lay his hand on us both.' This umpire-figure (mokhi'ach / mesitēs) anticipates 1 Timothy 2:5's 'one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.'
Notable Variants
9:2 'how can man be just before God?' (// 4:17, → Rom 3:20); 9:8 'who alone trampled the waves of the sea' → Christological echo Mark 6:48 (Jesus walking on water); 9:33 'arbiter between us' → 1 Tim 2:5 mediator-Christology.
Structural Notes
MT Job 9 = LXX Job 9. 35 verses.
Job responded:
'Then Job answered and said' tracks MT.
Yes, I know this is true — but how can a mortal be in the right before God?
'Truly I know that it is so. But how can a man be in the right before God?' tracks MT. HOW-CAN-MAN-BE-RIGHT-BEFORE-GOD — repeats Eliphaz's 4:17 question, but Job poses it from-his-own-anguish. Romans 3:20 ('by works of the law no human being will be justified') answers in Pauline-soteriology.
If someone wanted to take him to court, he could not answer one charge in a thousand.
'If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times' tracks MT.
He is wise in mind and vast in power. Who has defied him and come out whole?
'He is wise in heart and mighty in strength — who has hardened himself against him, and succeeded?' tracks MT.
He moves mountains, and they do not know it — he overturns them in his anger.
'He removes mountains, and they know it not, when he overturns them in his anger' tracks MT.
He shakes the earth from its place and its pillars tremble.
'Who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble' tracks MT.
He commands the sun, and it does not rise; he seals up the stars.
'Who commands the sun, and it does not rise; who seals up the stars' tracks MT.
He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the heights of the sea.
'Who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea' tracks MT. TRAMPLED-THE-WAVES. Mark 6:48 (Jesus 'walking on the sea'), Matt 14:25, John 6:19 — Christ enacts the divine-prerogative this verse describes. The sea-trampling is reserved for YHWH alone in OT-imagery; Jesus' walking-on-water is therefore a divine-prerogative claim.
He made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the constellations of the southern sky.
'Who made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the chambers of the south' tracks MT. CONSTELLATION-CATALOG. Job 38:31–32 will return to the Pleiades.
He does great things beyond searching out, wonders beyond counting.
'Who does great things beyond searching out, and marvelous things beyond number' tracks MT. // Job 5:9.
He passes right by me, and I cannot see him; he moves on, and I do not perceive him.
'Behold, he passes by me, and I see him not; he moves on, but I do not perceive him' tracks MT. DEUS-ABSCONDITUS. Hidden-God experience. 1 Kings 19:11–12's still-small-voice background.
If he snatches something away, who can stop him? Who can say to him, 'What are you doing?'
'Behold, he snatches away; who can turn him back? Who will say to him: What are you doing?' tracks MT.
God does not turn back his anger; even the allies of Rahab cringe beneath him.
'God will not turn back his anger; beneath him bowed the helpers of Rahab' tracks MT. RAHAB — chaos-monster (cf. Ps 89:10). The pre-creation-myth fragmentation.
How then could I answer him or choose my words to argue with him?
'How then can I answer him, choosing my words with him?' tracks MT.
Even if I were righteous, I could not answer him; I could only plead for mercy before my Judge.
'Though I am in the right, I cannot answer him; I must appeal for mercy to my accuser' tracks MT.
Even if I summoned him and he responded, I would not believe he was actually listening to me.
'If I summoned him and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice' tracks MT.
He crushes me with a storm and multiplies my wounds without cause.
'For he crushes me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause' tracks MT.
He will not let me catch my breath but fills me with bitterness.
'He will not let me get my breath, but fills me with bitterness' tracks MT.
If it is a contest of strength — he is the mighty one. If it is a matter of justice — who will set a court date for me?
'If it is a contest of strength, behold, he is mighty! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?' tracks MT.
Even if I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me. Even if I am blameless, he would declare me crooked.
'Though I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse' tracks MT.
I am blameless — but I no longer know myself. I despise my life.
'I am blameless; I regard not myself; I loathe my life' tracks MT.
It is all the same — that is why I said it: he destroys the blameless and the wicked alike.
'It is all one; therefore I say: He destroys both the blameless and the wicked' tracks MT. SAME-FATE — the troubling-equality of righteous-and-wicked-deaths.
When a plague kills suddenly, he laughs at the despair of the innocent.
'When disaster brings sudden death, he mocks at the calamity of the innocent' tracks MT.
The earth is handed over to the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If it is not he — then who?
'The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he covers the faces of its judges. If it is not he, who then is it?' tracks MT.
My days are swifter than a runner; they flee without seeing anything good.
'My days are swifter than a runner; they flee away; they see no good' tracks MT.
They glide past like reed boats, like an eagle swooping down on prey.
'They go by like skiffs of reed, like an eagle swooping on the prey' tracks MT.
If I say, 'I will forget my complaint, I will change my expression and force a smile' —
'If I say: I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face, and be of good cheer' tracks MT.
I dread all my sufferings. I know that you will not declare me innocent.
'I become afraid of all my suffering, for I know you will not hold me innocent' tracks MT.
I am already condemned — so why should I struggle for nothing?
'I shall be condemned; why then do I labor in vain?' tracks MT.
Even if I washed myself with snow and scrubbed my hands clean with lye —
'If I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye' tracks MT. WASH-WITH-SNOW — futile-self-purification. Jeremiah 2:22 ('though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me') extends.
you would plunge me into a pit of filth, and my own clothes would be disgusted by me.
'Yet you will plunge me into a pit, and my own clothes will abhor me' tracks MT.
For he is not a man like me, that I could answer him, that we could go to court together.
'For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together' tracks MT. NOT-A-MAN-AS-I-AM. The God-man asymmetry is what Christology will-resolve. 1 Tim 2:5 ('one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus') answers Job's-need.
There is no arbiter between us who could lay his hand on us both.
Masoretic (WLC)
לֹא יֵשׁ־בֵּינֵינוּ מוֹכִיחַ יָשֵׁת יָדוֹ עַל־שְׁנֵינוּ
There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both
Septuagint (LXX)
εἴθε ἦν ὁ μεσίτης ἡμῶν καὶ ἐλέγχων καὶ διακούων ἀνὰ μέσον ἀμφοτέρων
Would that there were a mediator between us, both reproving and listening between us both
MEDIATOR-CHRISTOLOGY ANTICIPATION. The LXX renders Job's 'arbiter' (mokhi'ach) as MESITĒS — the very-word Paul uses at 1 Timothy 2:5: 'For there is one God, and there is ONE MEDIATOR (heis mesitēs) between God and men, THE MAN CHRIST JESUS.' Job 9:33 LXX is the only OT occurrence of mesitēs in the sense of an interpersonal-arbiter between God and a human, making this verse a strong-typological-anticipation of Christ-the-mediator.
Galatians 3:19–20 ('the law … was put in place through angels by an intermediary' — mesitou), Hebrews 8:6, 9:15, 12:24 ('Jesus the mediator of a new covenant' — mesitē kainēs diathēkēs) all develop the mesitēs Christology that Job's-cry first-articulates as a NEED.
Let him remove his rod from me, and let his terror not frighten me.
'Let him take his rod away from me, and let not dread of him terrify me' tracks MT.
Then I would speak without fearing him. But as things stand — that is not my situation.
'Then I would speak without fear of him, for I am not so in myself' tracks MT.