22 This is one point: therefore I said, He destroyeth the [a]perfect and the wicked.

23 If the scourge should suddenly [b]slay, should God [c]laugh at the punishment of the innocent?

24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked: [d]he covereth the faces of the judges thereof: if not, where [e]is he? or who is he?

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Footnotes

  1. Job 9:22 If God punish according to his justice, he will destroy as well them, that are counted perfect as them that are wicked.
  2. Job 9:23 To wit, the wicked.
  3. Job 9:23 This is spoken according to our apprehension, as though he would say, If God destroy but the wicked, as Job 5:3, why should he suffer the innocent to be so long tormented by them?
  4. Job 9:24 That they cannot see to do justice.
  5. Job 9:24 That can show the contrary?

22 It is all the same; that is why I say,
    ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’(A)
23 When a scourge(B) brings sudden death,
    he mocks the despair of the innocent.(C)
24 When a land falls into the hands of the wicked,(D)
    he blindfolds its judges.(E)
    If it is not he, then who is it?(F)

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