The burden of Bildad’s argument is to convince Job that God upholds the principle of just retribution: those who had sinned (Job’s children) were punished (by death), and the righteous (in the present case, Job) is alive. This doctrine, proclaims Bildad, has been transmitted from generation to generation. Job responds to the arguments for divine justice made by Bildad, and by Eliphaz before him, by challenging the very notion that God is essentially just. Basing himself on the revelation of the rogue spirit in 4:17–21, Job submits that the deity finds humanity unworthy and therefore deserving of (unjust) punishment (9:2). God refuses to consider a human challenge, intimidating any challengers into acquiescence with his destructive power. In a typical parody of biblical piety, Job takes traditional images and vocabulary in praise of the deity’s creative prowess and presents them in a negative light. He imagines that were it not for God’s intimidation, he would take God to court and sue for justice. But alas, there is no magistrate who could prevail on the deity to play fair; to the contrary, God would falsely incriminate Job in order to beat him at trial.
[9:1] Up spoke Job and he said:
[2] I in fact know this is true:
“How can a mortal be righteous before God?”1
[3] If one wanted to press charges against him,
Not once in a thousand would he respond.
[4] The wise of heart and stern of strength2—
Who has ever coerced him3 and come out whole?
[5–6] Him who moves mountains without their knowing;
Who overturns them in his anger.
Who shakes the land from its place,
So that its pillars tremble.4
[7–9] Who commands the sun so it does not shine;
Who seals the celestial lights.
Who spreads out the sky all alone;5
And who steps on the back of Sea.6
Who has made the Hyades, Orion,
The Pleiades and the South-Wind Chambers.7
[10] Who performs great things too deep to probe,
And wondrous things, beyond number.8
[11] Since he can cross without my seeing him,
Pass by without my discerning him,
[12] He can snatch—and who can restrain him?
Who will say to him: “What are you doing?”
[13] (Since) Eloah will not restrain his anger—
Even the soldiers of Rahab9 cower beneath him—
[14] How could I call him to account,
Choose my charges10 against him?
[15–16] Even in the right, I would get no response;
Even if I implored my opponent in court.
But if I would summon and he would respond,
I do not trust he would hear my complaint.11
[17–18] He would push me on the hair-line,12
And multiply my wounds for no cause.13
He would not let me return breath,14
For he saturates me with poison.15
[19] If it’s a matter of strength, then he is the strong;
And if a legal proceeding, who can convene us?16
[20] Even were I in the right, his mouth17 would condemn me.
(Even) were I innocent,18 he would wrong me.19
[21] I am innocent—I care20 not for my self;
I’m fed up with my life.21
[22] It is all the same.
And so I declare:
The innocent and the guilty he brings to (the same) end.22
[23] While (his) scourge brings death to fools,23
He laughs at the trials of the spotless.
[24] The earth is handed over to the wicked;24
He covers the eyes of its judges.25
If it is not he, then who?
[25–26] Meanwhile my days go faster than a runner;26
They flee having seen nothing good.
They pass on like boats made of reeds,
Like an eagle swooping down on food.27
[27–28] Were I to say, “I’ll ignore my complaint,
I’ll forgo my sullen face28 and be happy,”
I’d dread all my afflictions;
I know you will not find me spotless.
[29] I will be found guilty.
So why should I strive in vain?29
[30–31] Were I to wash myself with soap-plant,30
And cleanse my palms with lye,31
You would plunge me into the pit,32
So even my clothing would abhor me.
[32] For he is not like me a man I could call to account;33
(With whom) we could join in a lawsuit.
[33–35] If only34 were between us a prosecutor,
Who would lay his hand on us both;
Who would remove his35 rod from upon me,
So his awe would not terrify me,
Then could I speak and not fear him—
For I am not being right toward myself.36
Job begins to overcome his intimidation and to build a case against the deity. Assuming that he is being held accountable for minor misdeeds (see 7:16ff.), Job makes a classic argument, found already in second millennium BCE Hittite prayers from Asia Minor: If I am sinful, it is your fault for having made me this way. You should be more tolerant of your creature’s infractions. Returning to earlier themes (his opening discourse), Job asks why he had to be born at all and why he should be so closely watched, when he will soon be gone. Job does not yet sue God formally; but he lays out a hypothetical case.
[10:1] My entire being despises my life.
I would prepare a complaint on my behalf,
I would speak in the bitterness of my being;
[2] I would say to Eloah: “Do not condemn me!
Let me know of what you accuse me!37
[3] Does it do you any good to do wrong?
To reject the effort of your hands?
While you shine favor on the schemes of the wicked?
[4–5] Have you eyes that are of flesh?
Do you see as a mortal sees?
Are your days like the days of a mortal?
Are your years like those of a man?
[6–7] When you go looking for my crime,
And investigate my sin,
You know very well I am not guilty—
But no one can rescue from your hand!38
[8–9] Your hands formed me39 and made me,
Put me together40—then destroyed me!
Mind now, it is you who made me like clay,
And will return me to the dust!
[10–11] Have you not poured me out like milk,
Clothed me in skin and flesh,
And woven me in bones and sinews?
[12] You have handled me with life and devotion,
And your providence has protected my spirit.
[13–14] But certain things you’ve kept hidden in your heart;
I know this is what you think:41
If I commit a sin, you’ll be watching me;
You’ll not declare me clean of my crime.
[15] If I am guilty—then woe be to me!
But even in the right, I could not hold up my head.
Be sated with (my) disgrace,
And regard my affliction!42
[16–17] And if (my head) were to loom, you would hunt me down like a lion;
You would work wonders43 against me over and over!
You would renew your hostilities44 toward me,
As your anger grows great against me,
Arraying reinforcements against me.45
[18–19] So why did you take me out of the womb?
Would I had died, with no eye seeing me!
Would I had been as though I had not been;
Would I had been carried from womb to tomb.
[20–22] Very few are the days of my lifespan46—
Look away47 from me, so I may have a respite.
Before I go and do not return,
To a land of darkness and deep-shade;
A land whose brightness is like pitch-black,
Deep-shade and disorder;
That shines like pitch-black.”48
1. A paraphrase of the spirit in 4:17.
2. Using this phrase, which ordinarily denotes stubbornness, in reference to the deity is parodic; see Deuteronomy 2:30.
3. See Deuteronomy 2:30, where the deity “hardens the spirit” (will) of Israel’s opponent.
4. The earth was imagined as resting on pillars; for example Psalm 75:4.
5. Borrowed from Isaiah 44:24, where God’s being the sole creator is more to the point.
6. Stepping on the back of an enemy is a gesture of triumph; see Deuteronomy 33:29. Sea is both the Canaanite deity Yamm (see Job 7:12) and the sea.
7. These are all constellations. In the light of classical mythology, the constellations are, like Sea (Yamm), resistant powers that had to be subdued at the time of creation.
8. A parody of Eliphaz in 5:9.
9. A biblical name for the primeval sea monster, like Sea / Yamm and Leviathan (Psalm 89:10–11).
10. The term “word(s)” often denotes legal matters.
11. Literally, “he would give ear to my voice.”
12. A gesture indicating the rejection of a legal claim, attested in Alalakh (north Syria) in the seventeenth century BCE (Wiseman, 38). Others understand “hair” (as in 4:15) as its homonym “storm,” but in Job that word is always spelled with samekh not sin.
13. “For nothing” in Job 1:9. Job does not realize how right he is.
14. That is, make any statement; compare 15:13. There may be a secondary sense of not allowing Job even to “restore his breath” (compare Psalm 23:3).
15. Reading bimrorim (Lamentations 3:15). Compare the image in Job 6:4.
16. Reading final—nu “us” for—ni “me.”
17. Read piw for pi “my mouth.” The virtually synonymous parallel line makes this certain. That Job incriminates himself is Eliphaz’s later contention (15:5–6), not Job’s. An ancient scribe surely sanitized the reading here; but the point is elaborated by Job in verses 30–31 below.
18. “Whole (of heart)” in Job 1:1, 8.
19. Reading ya‘ashqeni (with metathesis).
20. For this sense of yada‘, see for example Exodus 2:25; Psalm 1:6.
21. Compare 7:16.
22. This radical claim finds a parallel in Ecclesiastes (7:15; 8:14). It is exceeded only by Ezekiel 21:8, where the deity himself threatens to annihilate both the righteous and the wicked.
23. Reading peta’im for pit’om “suddenly,” as I did in 5:3; compare the ancient Greek translation.
24. Job overturns the conventional wisdom according to which the reverent “inherit the earth” (for example Psalm 25:13; 37:9).
25. So that they cannot render justice.
26. A racing messenger; see for example 2 Samuel 18:19–32. Job returns to the theme of 7:6.
27. Compare the images in Habakkuk 1:8.
28. For “face” alone in the sense of a sullen mien, see for example 1 Samuel 1:18.
29. The term for “in vain” is hebel “mere breath” (as in Qohelet 1:2).
30. Reading with the traditional Ketib (written form) rather than the Masoretic reading “with snow water,” which is a much less apt parallel.
31. The word bor, employed instead of conventional borit, usually means “pit” and therefore produces a pun with the term for pit in the following couplet. The verse parodies Jeremiah 2:22, where God says to the people of Judah: “Even if you clean (yourself) with soap and apply a lot of lye, your sin will be a stain in my sight.” Job boldly accuses the deity of falsely incriminating him.
32. “Pit” also connotes the grave (for example 33:18).
33. Compare the usage in verse 14 above.
34. Reading lu’ for lo’ with some ancient translations and many commentators. For lu’ spelled with aleph, see 2 Samuel 19:7; compare also 1 Samuel 14:30; Isaiah 48:18; 63:19.
35. The deity’s.
36. For the force of the expression “not right,” see 2 Kings 17:9.
37. Job assumes that the deity holds him guilty of some transgressions.
38. Job typically converts a positive statement of God’s power from Deuteronomy 32:39 (“no one can rescue from my hand”) to a negative one.
39. The verb in context also connotes “pain” (see 9:28), from the same root.
40. Literally, “together and about.”
41. Literally, “with you.”
42. Or “being sated with disgrace, and experiencing affliction.” Compare the expression “to see (experience) affliction,” known from Lamentations 3:1 (and compare “we have seen evil/disaster” in Psalm 90:15). Job here inverts the conventional perspective by addressing the deity.
43. As in wreaking plagues (see Deuteronomy 28:59); compare pela’im “appalling acts” in Lamentation 1:9.
44. Compare Arabic ‘adawa.
45. More literally, “replacements and army are with me.”
46. For the written form (Ketib) yḥdl, which is read wḥdl in the Masoretic tradition, read ḥeldi “my lifespan,” which is found in parallelism with “my days” in Psalm 39:6; compare the ancient Greek and Syriac translations.
47. Reading she‘eh for yashit, “he puts,” which does not suit the context. Job uses the same phrase in 7:19; and for the combination of sha‘ah (Hiph‘il) and hiblig “have a respite,” compare Psalm 39:14.
48. The realm of the dead is depicted, as in chapter 3, as the reverse of the land of the living—a gloomy abode where daylight is darkness. So already Saadia Gaon; and see Ginsberg, “Unrecognized Allusion.”