| Christian Standard Bible | New International Version |
| 1Then Job answered: | 1Then Job replied: |
| 2I have heard many things like these. You are all miserable comforters. | 2"I have heard many things like these; you are miserable comforters, all of you! |
| 3Is there no end to your empty words? What provokes you that you continue testifying? | 3Will your long-winded speeches never end? What ails you that you keep on arguing? |
| 4If you were in my place I could also talk like you. I could string words together against you and shake my head at you. | 4I also could speak like you, if you were in my place; I could make fine speeches against you and shake my head at you. |
| 5Instead, I would encourage you with my mouth, and the consolation from my lips would bring relief. | 5But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief. |
| 6If I speak, my suffering is not relieved, and if I hold back, does any of it leave me? | 6"Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved; and if I refrain, it does not go away. |
| 7Surely he has now exhausted me. You have devastated my entire family. | 7Surely, God, you have worn me out; you have devastated my entire household. |
| 8You have shriveled me up--it has become a witness; my frailty rises up against me and testifies to my face. | 8You have shriveled me up--and it has become a witness; my gauntness rises up and testifies against me. |
| 9His anger tears at me, and he harasses me. He gnashes his teeth at me. My enemy pierces me with his eyes. | 9God assails me and tears me in his anger and gnashes his teeth at me; my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes. |
| 10They open their mouths against me and strike my cheeks with contempt; they join themselves together against me. | 10People open their mouths to jeer at me; they strike my cheek in scorn and unite together against me. |
| 11God hands me over to the unjust; he throws me to the wicked. | 11God has turned me over to the ungodly and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked. |
| 12I was at ease, but he shattered me; he seized me by the scruff of the neck and smashed me to pieces. He set me up as his target; | 12All was well with me, but he shattered me; he seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has made me his target; |
| 13his archers surround me. He pierces my kidneys without mercy and pours my bile on the ground. | 13his archers surround me. Without pity, he pierces my kidneys and spills my gall on the ground. |
| 14He breaks through my defenses again and again; he charges at me like a warrior. | 14Again and again he bursts upon me; he rushes at me like a warrior. |
| 15I have sewn sackcloth over my skin; I have buried my strength in the dust. | 15"I have sewed sackcloth over my skin and buried my brow in the dust. |
| 16My face has grown red with weeping, and darkness covers my eyes, | 16My face is red with weeping, dark shadows ring my eyes; |
| 17although my hands are free from violence and my prayer is pure. | 17yet my hands have been free of violence and my prayer is pure. |
| 18Earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry for help find no resting place. | 18"Earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry never be laid to rest! |
| 19Even now my witness is in heaven, and my advocate is in the heights! | 19Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. |
| 20My friends scoff at me as I weep before God. | 20My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; |
| 21I wish that someone might argue for a man with God just as anyone would for a friend. | 21on behalf of a man he pleads with God as one pleads for a friend. |
| 22For only a few years will pass before I go the way of no return. | 22"Only a few years will pass before I take the path of no return. |
| The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. | New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. |
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