Berean Study Bible | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
1Then Job answered: | 1Then Job answered: |
2“How long will you torment me and crush me with your words? | 2How long will you torment me and crush me with words? |
3Ten times now you have reproached me; you shamelessly mistreat me. | 3You have humiliated me ten times now, and you mistreat me without shame. |
4Even if I have truly gone astray, my error concerns me alone. | 4Even if it is true that I have sinned, my mistake concerns only me. |
5If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me and use my disgrace against me, | 5If you really want to appear superior to me and would use my disgrace as evidence against me, |
6then understand that it is God who has wronged me and drawn His net around me. | 6then understand that it is God who has wronged me and caught me in His net. |
7Though I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice. | 7I cry out: "Violence!" but get no response; I call for help, but there is no justice. |
8He has blocked my way so I cannot pass; He has veiled my paths with darkness. | 8He has blocked my way so that I cannot pass through; He has veiled my paths with darkness. |
9He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head. | 9He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head. |
10He tears me down on every side until I am gone; He uproots my hope like a tree. | 10He tears me down on every side so that I am ruined. He uproots my hope like a tree. |
11His anger burns against me, and He counts me among His enemies. | 11His anger burns against me, and He regards me as one of His enemies. |
12His troops advance together; they construct a ramp against me and encamp around my tent. | 12His troops advance together; they construct a ramp against me and camp around my tent. |
13He has removed my brothers from me; my acquaintances have abandoned me. | 13He has removed my brothers from me; my acquaintances have abandoned me. |
14My kinsmen have failed me, and my friends have forgotten me. | 14My relatives stop coming by, and my close friends have forgotten me. |
15My guests and maidservants count me as a stranger; I am a foreigner in their sight. | 15My house guests and female servants regard me as a stranger; I am a foreigner in their sight. |
16I call for my servant, but he does not answer, though I implore him with my own mouth. | 16I call for my servant, but he does not answer, even if I beg him with my own mouth. |
17My breath is repulsive to my wife, and I am loathsome to my own family. | 17My breath is offensive to my wife, and my own family finds me repulsive. |
18Even little boys scorn me; when I appear, they deride me. | 18Even young boys scorn me. When I stand up, they mock me. |
19All my best friends despise me, and those I love have turned against me. | 19All of my best friends despise me, and those I love have turned against me. |
20My skin and flesh cling to my bones; I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. | 20My skin and my flesh cling to my bones; I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. |
21Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me. | 21Have mercy on me, my friends, have mercy, for God's hand has struck me. |
22Why do you persecute me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh? | 22Why do you persecute me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh? |
23I wish that my words were recorded and inscribed in a book, | 23I wish that my words were written down, that they were recorded on a scroll |
24by an iron stylus on lead, or chiseled in stone forever. | 24or were inscribed in stone forever by an iron stylus and lead! |
25But I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the end He will stand upon the earth. | 25But I know my living Redeemer, and He will stand on the dust at last. |
26Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God. | 26Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet I will see God in my flesh. |
27I will see Him for myself; my eyes will behold Him, and not as a stranger. How my heart yearns within me! | 27I will see Him myself; my eyes will look at Him, and not as a stranger. My heart longs within me. |
28If you say, ‘Let us persecute him, since the root of the matter lies with him,’ | 28If you say, "How will we pursue him, since the root of the problem lies with him?" |
29then you should fear the sword yourselves, because wrath brings punishment by the sword, so that you may know there is a judgment.” | 29then be afraid of the sword, because wrath brings punishment by the sword, so that you may know there is a judgment. |
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