Berean Study Bible | New Living Translation |
1Then Job answered: | 1Then Job spoke again: |
2“How long will you torment me and crush me with your words? | 2“How long will you torture me? How long will you try to crush me with your words? |
3Ten times now you have reproached me; you shamelessly mistreat me. | 3You have already insulted me ten times. You should be ashamed of treating me so badly. |
4Even if I have truly gone astray, my error concerns me alone. | 4Even if I have sinned, that is my concern, not yours. |
5If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me and use my disgrace against me, | 5You think you’re better than I am, using my humiliation as evidence of my sin. |
6then understand that it is God who has wronged me and drawn His net around me. | 6But it is God who has wronged me, capturing me in his net. |
7Though I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice. | 7“I cry out, ‘Help!’ but no one answers me. I protest, but there is no justice. |
8He has blocked my way so I cannot pass; He has veiled my paths with darkness. | 8God has blocked my way so I cannot move. He has plunged my path into 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 has demolished me on every side, and I am finished. He has uprooted my hope like a fallen tree. |
11His anger burns against me, and He counts me among His enemies. | 11His fury burns against me; he counts me as an enemy. |
12His troops advance together; they construct a ramp against me and encamp around my tent. | 12His troops advance. They build up roads to attack me. They camp all around my tent. |
13He has removed my brothers from me; my acquaintances have abandoned me. | 13“My relatives stay far away, and my friends have turned against me. |
14My kinsmen have failed me, and my friends have forgotten me. | 14My family is gone, and my close friends have forgotten me. |
15My guests and maidservants count me as a stranger; I am a foreigner in their sight. | 15My servants and maids consider me a stranger. I am like a foreigner to them. |
16I call for my servant, but he does not answer, though I implore him with my own mouth. | 16When I call my servant, he doesn’t come; I have to plead with him! |
17My breath is repulsive to my wife, and I am loathsome to my own family. | 17My breath is repulsive to my wife. I am rejected by my own family. |
18Even little boys scorn me; when I appear, they deride me. | 18Even young children despise me. When I stand to speak, they turn their backs on me. |
19All my best friends despise me, and those I love have turned against me. | 19My close friends detest me. Those I loved have turned against me. |
20My skin and flesh cling to my bones; I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. | 20I have been reduced to skin and bones and have escaped death by the skin of my teeth. |
21Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me. | 21“Have mercy on me, my friends, have mercy, for the hand of God has struck me. |
22Why do you persecute me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh? | 22Must you also persecute me, like God does? Haven’t you chewed me up enough? |
23I wish that my words were recorded and inscribed in a book, | 23“Oh, that my words could be recorded. Oh, that they could be inscribed on a monument, |
24by an iron stylus on lead, or chiseled in stone forever. | 24carved with an iron chisel and filled with lead, engraved forever in the rock. |
25But I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the end He will stand upon the earth. | 25“But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last. |
26Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God. | 26And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God! |
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 for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought! |
28If you say, ‘Let us persecute him, since the root of the matter lies with him,’ | 28“How dare you go on persecuting me, saying, ‘It’s his own fault’? |
29then you should fear the sword yourselves, because wrath brings punishment by the sword, so that you may know there is a judgment.” | 29You should fear punishment yourselves, for your attitude deserves punishment. Then you will know that there is indeed a judgment.” |
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