If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong: and if of judgment, who shall set me a time to plead?
Job 9:19 belongs to Job's answer to Bildad's first speech, in which Bildad urges humility upon him. More broadly it stands within the book's treatment of providence, sin, and suffering, as Job debates with his friends the cause and purpose of human suffering. Its plain sense is that God is overwhelmingly strong, and that if the question is one of justice no one can summon Him to answer or set a time to plead a case against Him. In that setting affliction is no proof of sin or of God's displeasure, for Job's affliction was discipline from God, while his friends wrongly insisted that his suffering must have been caused by his sin. It shows Job holding to his integrity and refusing to accuse God of wrongdoing, even though he could not understand God's dealings with him.
Job 9:19 belongs to Job's answer to Bildad's first speech, in which Bildad urges humility upon him. More broadly it stands within the book's treatment of providence, sin, and suffering, as Job debates with his friends the cause and purpose of human suffering. Its plain sense is that God is overwhelmingly strong, and that if the question is one of justice no one can summon Him to answer or set a time to plead a case against Him. In that setting affliction is no proof of sin or of God's displeasure, for Job's affliction was discipline from God, while his friends wrongly insisted that his suffering must have been caused by his sin. It shows Job holding to his integrity and refusing to accuse God of wrongdoing, even though he could not understand God's dealings with him.