International Standard Version | New Living Translation |
1In response, Job said: | 1Then Job spoke again: |
2"I've heard many things like this. What miserable comforters you all are! | 2“I have heard all this before. What miserable comforters you are! |
3Will windy words like yours never end? What is upsetting you that you keep on arguing? | 3Won’t you ever stop blowing hot air? What makes you keep on talking? |
4"I could also talk like you if only you were in my place! Then I would put together an argument against you. I would shake my head at you | 4I could say the same things if you were in my place. I could spout off criticism and shake my head at you. |
5and encourage you with what I have to say; my words of comfort would lessen your pain. | 5But if it were me, I would encourage you. I would try to take away your grief. |
6"But if I speak, my pain isn't assuaged; if I refrain from speaking, what do I have to lose?" | 6Instead, I suffer if I defend myself, and I suffer no less if I refuse to speak. |
7"God has certainly worn me out; you devastated my entire world. | 7“O God, you have ground me down and devastated my family. |
8You've arrested me, making me testify against myself! My leanness rises up to attack me, accusing me to my face. | 8As if to prove I have sinned, you’ve reduced me to skin and bones. My gaunt flesh testifies against me. |
9His anger tears me in his persistent resentment against me; he gnashes his teeth at me. My adversary glares at me. | 9God hates me and angrily tears me apart. He snaps his teeth at me and pierces me with his eyes. |
10People gaped at me with mouths wide open; they slap me in their scorn and gather together against me. | 10People jeer and laugh at me. They slap my cheek in contempt. A mob gathers against me. |
11God has delivered me over to the ungodly, throwing me into the control of the wicked. | 11God has handed me over to sinners. He has tossed me into the hands of the wicked. |
12"He tore me apart when I was at ease; grabbing me by my neck, he shook me to pieces— then he really made me his target. | 12“I was living quietly until he shattered me. He took me by the neck and broke me in pieces. Then he set me up as his target, |
13His archers surround me, slashing open my kidneys without pity; he pours out my gall on the ground. | 13and now his archers surround me. His arrows pierce me without mercy. The ground is wet with my blood. |
14Attack follows attack as he breaks through my defenses! He runs over me like a mighty warrior. | 14Again and again he smashes against me, charging at me like a warrior. |
15"I've even sewn sackcloth directly to my skin; I've buried my strength in the dust. | 15I wear burlap to show my grief. My pride lies in the dust. |
16My face is red from my tears, and dark shadows encircle my eyelids, | 16My eyes are red with weeping; dark shadows circle my eyes. |
17even though violence is not my intention, and my prayer is pure." | 17Yet I have done no wrong, and my prayer is pure. |
18"Listen, earth! Don't cover my blood, for my outcry has no place to rest. | 18“O earth, do not conceal my blood. Let it cry out on my behalf. |
19Even now, behold! I have a witness in heaven, my Advocate is on high. | 19Even now my witness is in heaven. My advocate is there on high. |
20My friends mock me, while my eyes overflow with tears to God, | 20My friends scorn me, but I pour out my tears to God. |
21crying for him to arbitrate between this man and God; as a human being does with his fellow neighbor. | 21I need someone to mediate between God and me, as a person mediates between friends. |
22For when only a few years have elapsed, I'll start down a path from which I'll never return." | 22For soon I must go down that road from which I will never return. |
The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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