ESTUDIO DEL CAPÍTULO
Job 9 — God's Unanswerable Power and Job's Dilemma
Job responds to Bildad by confessing God's sovereign greatness and arguing that no human can successfully dispute or be declared righteous before such a Judge.
Escritura
- 1.Respondió Job, y dijo:Then Job answered and said,
- 2.Ciertamente yo sé que es así; ¿Y cómo se justificará el hombre con Dios?Of a truth I know that it is so: But how can man be just with God?
- 3.Si quisiere contender con él, No le podrá responder a una cosa entre mil.If he be pleased to contend with him, He cannot answer him one of a thousand.
- 4.El es sabio de corazón, y poderoso en fuerzas; ¿Quién se endureció contra él, y le fue bien?He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: Who hath hardened himself against him, and prospered? --
- 5.El arranca los montes con su furor, Y no saben quién los trastornó;Him that removeth the mountains, and they know it not, When he overturneth them in his anger;
- 6.El remueve la tierra de su lugar, Y hace temblar sus columnas;That shaketh the earth out of its place, And the pillars thereof tremble;
- 7.El manda al sol, y no sale; Y sella las estrellas;That commandeth the sun, and it riseth not, And sealeth up the stars;
- 8.El solo extendió los cielos, Y anda sobre las olas del mar;That alone stretcheth out the heavens, And treadeth upon the waves of the sea;
- 9.El hizo la Osa, el Orión y las Pléyades, Y los lugares secretos del sur;That maketh the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, And the chambers of the south;
- 10.El hace cosas grandes e incomprensibles, Y maravillosas, sin número.That doeth great things past finding out, Yea, marvellous things without number.
- 11.He aquí que él pasará delante de mí, y yo no lo veré; Pasará, y no lo entenderé.Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not: He passeth on also, but I perceive him not.
- 12.He aquí, arrebatará; ¿quién le hará restituir? ¿Quién le dirá: ¿Qué haces?Behold, he seizeth the prey, who can hinder him? Who will say unto him, What doest thou?
- 13.Dios no volverá atrás su ira, Y debajo de él se abaten los que ayudan a los soberbios.God will not withdraw his anger; The helpers of Rahab do stoop under him.
- 14.¿Cuánto menos le responderé yo, Y hablaré con él palabras escogidas?How much less shall I answer him, And choose out my words to reason with him?
- 15.Aunque fuese yo justo, no respondería; Antes habría de rogar a mi juez.Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer; I would make supplication to my judge.
- 16.Si yo le invocara, y él me respondiese, Aún no creeré que haya escuchado mi voz.If I had called, and he had answered me, Yet would I not believe that he hearkened unto my voice.
- 17.Porque me ha quebrantado con tempestad, Y ha aumentado mis heridas sin causa.For he breaketh me with a tempest, And multiplieth my wounds without cause.
- 18.No me ha concedido que tome aliento, Sino que me ha llenado de amarguras.He will not suffer me to take my breath, But filleth me with bitterness.
- 19.Si habláremos de su potencia, por cierto es fuerte; Si de juicio, ¿quién me emplazará?If we speak of strength, lo, he is mighty! And if of justice, Who, saith he, will summon me?
- 20.Si yo me justificare, me condenaría mi boca; Si me dijere perfecto, esto me haría inicuo.Though I be righteous, mine own mouth shall condemn me: Though I be perfect, it shall prove me perverse.
- 21.Si fuese íntegro, no haría caso de mí mismo; Despreciaría mi vida.I am perfect; I regard not myself; I despise my life.
- 22.Una cosa resta que yo diga: Al perfecto y al impío él los consume.It is all one; therefore I say, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.
- 23.Si azote mata de repente, Se ríe del sufrimiento de los inocentes.If the scourge slay suddenly, He will mock at the trial of the innocent.
- 24.La tierra es entregada en manos de los impíos, Y él cubre el rostro de sus jueces. Si no es él, ¿quién es? ¿Dónde está?The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; He covereth the faces of the judges thereof: If it be not he, who then is it?
- 25.Mis días han sido más ligeros que un correo; Huyeron, y no vieron el bien.Now my days are swifter than a post: They flee away, they see no good,
- 26.Pasaron cual naves veloces; Como el águila que se arroja sobre la presa.They are passed away as the swift ships; As the eagle that swoopeth on the prey.
- 27.Si yo dijere: Olvidaré mi queja, Dejaré mi triste semblante, y me esforzaré,If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad countenance, and be of good cheer;
- 28.Me turban todos mis dolores; Sé que no me tendrás por inocente.I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent.
- 29.Yo soy impío; ¿Para qué trabajaré en vano?I shall be condemned; Why then do I labor in vain?
- 30.Aunque me lave con aguas de nieve, Y limpie mis manos con la limpieza misma,If I wash myself with snow water, And make my hands never so clean;
- 31.Aún me hundirás en el hoyo, Y mis propios vestidos me abominarán.Yet wilt thou plunge me in the ditch, And mine own clothes shall abhor me.
- 32.Porque no es hombre como yo, para que yo le responda, Y vengamos juntamente a juicio.For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, That we should come together in judgment.
- 33.No hay entre nosotros árbitro Que ponga su mano sobre nosotros dos.There is no umpire betwixt us, That might lay his hand upon us both.
- 34.Quite de sobre mí su vara, Y su terror no me espante.Let him take his rod away from me, And let not his terror make me afraid:
- 35.Entonces hablaré, y no le temeré; Porque en este estado no estoy en mí.Then would I speak, and not fear him; For I am not so in myself.
Qué significa este pasaje
Job 9 opens with Job conceding the truth of his friends' general principle that the wicked do not prosper (vv. 1-2), yet immediately raises the question, "How can man be just with God?" The Hebrew verb rendered "just" (H6663, yiṣdaq) implies a forensic declaration of righteousness before a judge. Job's point is not denial of God's justice but the impossibility of a human defendant winning such a case.
Verses 3-13 catalogue God's cosmic power: He moves mountains, shakes the earth, commands the sun, seals the stars, stretches the heavens, and made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades (v. 9). Job's rhetorical question, "Who hath hardened himself against him, and prospered?" sets up the conclusion: God's anger does not turn back (v. 13).
In vv. 14-35 Job argues that even righteousness cannot secure a hearing. If called, Job would not trust God's favor (v. 16). Even if pure, his own mouth would condemn him (v. 20). The chapter closes with Job's desperate wish for an "umpire" (v. 33) who could lay a hand on both parties — a mediator between God and man.
Contexto
The curated note identifies Job 9 as part of backfilled chapters from Job outside the P0/P1 range. Within the speech cycle of the book, Job 9 follows Bildad's second speech (ch. 8), which insisted that God always rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked. Job's response sharpens the friends' principle into an unbearable conclusion: if no one can stand before God's power, then apparent injustice in the world cannot be settled by human argument.
The chapter supplies the textual setting for its well-known plea for a mediator (v. 33). Without the preceding context of chapter 8, the force of vv. 14-35 as a counter-argument to Bildad cannot be fully measured, since Job is taking the friends' logic to its limit rather than introducing a new theme.
Palabras clave del original
- H6663 The verb yiṣdaq ('be just') in v. 2 carries a forensic sense — to be declared righteous in a legal setting. Job's question assumes a courtroom in which God is the judge and humanity is on trial, not a moral comparison.
- H6663 In v. 20 the same root recurs in Job's troubling claim: 'mine own mouth shall condemn me.' The forensic framing means Job is not doubting his moral innocence but conceding that the courtroom itself is stacked against him.
- H6030 The verb ʿāna ('answer') governs the dialogue language of vv. 1, 3, and 14-16. Job's repeated point is that answering God is structurally impossible — the same word used for human response becomes the very thing denied.
Versículos relacionados
- Job 5:9 Bildad's earlier confession that God does 'great things… without number' is essentially recycled by Job in 9:10. The difference is tone: Bildad uses it to comfort; Job uses it to indict the human predicament.
- Romans 11:33 Paul's doxology over God's unsearchable judgments matches Job 9's rhetorical exhaustion. Both texts locate the limit of human reasoning not in divine obscurity but in the boundlessness of God's ways.
- Ephesians 3:20 Where Job laments that God 'doeth great things past finding out' (9:10), Paul celebrates the same God as able to do 'exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.' The shared predicate — works exceeding comprehension — frames Job's lament and Paul's doxology as two responses to one divine attribute.
Preguntas frecuentes
Is Job denying God's justice in chapter 9?
Job does not deny God's justice; he questions whether a human defendant can ever be declared righteous before such a Judge. The Hebrew verb in v. 2 is forensic — about verdict, not character — so the chapter argues from courtroom asymmetry, not from any accusation of wrongdoing by God.
What does Job mean when he asks for an 'umpire' in 9:33?
Job wishes for a third party who could 'lay his hand upon us both' — someone able to grasp both God and man and arbitrate between them. The text itself supplies no identification; readers later in Scripture often connect the longing to a mediating figure, but the chapter only registers the wish, not its fulfillment.
Why does Job claim even his own mouth would condemn him (9:20)?
Job argues that in a courtroom where God alone defines the standard, any human self-defense will end up proving the very charges. Verse 21 makes this explicit: 'I am perfect, yet I despise my life.' The claim is about the impossibility of speaking one's way out before an absolute judge, not about hidden guilt.