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- ¶ THEN Job answered and said,
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- Truly, I know that it is so;
but how can a man be declared innocent before God?
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- If he should contend with him, he cannot answer him one out of a thousand.
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- He is wise in heart and mighty in strength;
who has hardened himself against him, and had peace?
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- He who removes mountains and overthrows them with his anger, does he not know?
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- He shakes the earth out of its foundations, and its inhabitants tremble.
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- He commands the sun, and it does not rise;
and seals up the stars.
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- He alone stretched out the heavens, and treads upon the mighty waves of the sea.
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- He made the Pleiades, Aldebaran, and Orion, and the chambers of the south.
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- He has done great things past finding out;
yea, and wonders without number.
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- Lo, if he will pass by me, I will see him not;
and if he will circle around me, I will not perceive him.
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- Behold, if he will destroy, who can resist him?
Who can say to him, What doest thou?
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- God will not turn away his anger, the mighty shall be humiliated under him.
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- ¶ I will answer him also, and choose out my words in his presence.
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- If I am not justified I would not resist, but I would make supplication to my judge.
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- If I had called, and he had answered me, yet I would not believe that he had hearkened to my voice.
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- For he has crushed me with a tempest, and multiplied my wounds without cause.
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- He will not suffer me to take my breath, but fills me with bitterness.
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- If it is a matter of strength, lo, he is mighty;
and if of judgment, who can summon him?
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- If I justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me;
though I say I am pure, he shall also prove me perverse.
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- Though I am pure, yet I would not know my soul;
I would despise my life.
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- ¶ It is all the same;
therefore I say, He destroys both the righteous and the wicked.
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- If his rod slays suddenly, he will laugh at the foolishness of the innocent.
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- The earth is handed over to the wicked;
and the faces of the judges are covered; if not, who can endure their wrath?
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- ¶ Now my days are swifter than a runner;
they flee away, they see no good.
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- They are passed away like ships of the enemy;
like the eagle that swoops on the prey.
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- I have forgotten my bitterness;
if my mind or my thought would leave me alone, then I would find rest.
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- Though I am at rest, I am afraid of every torment, because I know that thou wilt not declare me innocent.
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- Behold, if I am declared guilty, why then dost thou consume me in vain?
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- If I wash myself with snow why then dost thou consume me in my hands;
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- Yet thou shalt plunge me into the pit, and my own clothes shall be abhorrent to me.
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- For God is not a man as I am, that I might answer him.
and that we should come together for trial.
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- O that there were a judge between us, that he might silence us both!
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- Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his fear terrify me;
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- Then I would speak, and I will not be afraid of him, for I have never been against him.
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