New International Version | New Living Translation |
1Then Job replied: | 1Then Job spoke again: |
2"I have heard many things like these; you are miserable comforters, all of you! | 2“I have heard all this before. What miserable comforters you are! |
3Will your long-winded speeches never end? What ails you that you keep on arguing? | 3Won’t you ever stop blowing hot air? What makes you keep on talking? |
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. | 4I could say the same things if you were in my place. I could spout off criticism and shake my head at you. |
5But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief. | 5But if it were me, I would encourage you. I would try to take away your grief. |
6"Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved; and if I refrain, it does not go away. | 6Instead, I suffer if I defend myself, and I suffer no less if I refuse to speak. |
7Surely, God, you have worn me out; you have devastated my entire household. | 7“O God, you have ground me down and devastated my family. |
8You have shriveled me up--and it has become a witness; my gauntness rises up and testifies against me. | 8As if to prove I have sinned, you’ve reduced me to skin and bones. My gaunt flesh testifies against me. |
9God assails me and tears me in his anger and gnashes his teeth at me; my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes. | 9God hates me and angrily tears me apart. He snaps his teeth at me and pierces me with his eyes. |
10People open their mouths to jeer at me; they strike my cheek in scorn and unite together against me. | 10People jeer and laugh at me. They slap my cheek in contempt. A mob gathers against me. |
11God has turned me over to the ungodly and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked. | 11God has handed me over to sinners. He has tossed me into the hands of the wicked. |
12All was well with me, but he shattered me; he seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has 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. Without pity, he pierces my kidneys and spills my gall on the ground. | 13and now his archers surround me. His arrows pierce me without mercy. The ground is wet with my blood. |
14Again and again he bursts upon me; he rushes at me like a warrior. | 14Again and again he smashes against me, charging at me like a warrior. |
15"I have sewed sackcloth over my skin and buried my brow in the dust. | 15I wear burlap to show my grief. My pride lies in the dust. |
16My face is red with weeping, dark shadows ring my eyes; | 16My eyes are red with weeping; dark shadows circle my eyes. |
17yet my hands have been free of violence and my prayer is pure. | 17Yet I have done no wrong, and my prayer is pure. |
18"Earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry never be laid to rest! | 18“O earth, do not conceal my blood. Let it cry out on my behalf. |
19Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. | 19Even now my witness is in heaven. My advocate is there on high. |
20My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; | 20My friends scorn me, but I pour out my tears to God. |
21on behalf of a man he pleads with God as one pleads for a friend. | 21I need someone to mediate between God and me, as a person mediates between friends. |
22"Only a few years will pass before I take the path of no return. | 22For soon I must go down that road from which I will never return. |
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. | 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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