| New Living Translation | King James Bible |
| 1Then Job spoke again: | 1But Job answered and said, |
| 2“If my misery could be weighed and my troubles be put on the scales, | 2Oh that my grief were throughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together! |
| 3they would outweigh all the sands of the sea. That is why I spoke impulsively. | 3For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea: therefore my words are swallowed up. |
| 4For the Almighty has struck me down with his arrows. Their poison infects my spirit. God’s terrors are lined up against me. | 4For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me. |
| 5Don’t I have a right to complain? Don’t wild donkeys bray when they find no grass, and oxen bellow when they have no food? | 5Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? or loweth the ox over his fodder? |
| 6Don’t people complain about unsalted food? Does anyone want the tasteless white of an egg? | 6Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? or is there any taste in the white of an egg? |
| 7My appetite disappears when I look at it; I gag at the thought of eating it! | 7The things that my soul refused to touch are as my sorrowful meat. |
| 8“Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant my desire. | 8Oh that I might have my request; and that God would grant me the thing that I long for! |
| 9I wish he would crush me. I wish he would reach out his hand and kill me. | 9Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off! |
| 10At least I can take comfort in this: Despite the pain, I have not denied the words of the Holy One. | 10Then should I yet have comfort; yea, I would harden myself in sorrow: let him not spare; for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One. |
| 11But I don’t have the strength to endure. I have nothing to live for. | 11What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is mine end, that I should prolong my life? |
| 12Do I have the strength of a stone? Is my body made of bronze? | 12Is my strength the strength of stones? or is my flesh of brass? |
| 13No, I am utterly helpless, without any chance of success. | 13Is not my help in me? and is wisdom driven quite from me? |
| 14“One should be kind to a fainting friend, but you accuse me without any fear of the Almighty. | 14To him that is afflicted pity should be shewed from his friend; but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty. |
| 15My brothers, you have proved as unreliable as a seasonal brook that overflows its banks in the spring | 15My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away; |
| 16when it is swollen with ice and melting snow. | 16Which are blackish by reason of the ice, and wherein the snow is hid: |
| 17But when the hot weather arrives, the water disappears. The brook vanishes in the heat. | 17What time they wax warm, they vanish: when it is hot, they are consumed out of their place. |
| 18The caravans turn aside to be refreshed, but there is nothing to drink, so they die. | 18The paths of their way are turned aside; they go to nothing, and perish. |
| 19The caravans from Tema search for this water; the travelers from Sheba hope to find it. | 19The troops of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba waited for them. |
| 20They count on it but are disappointed. When they arrive, their hopes are dashed. | 20They were confounded because they had hoped; they came thither, and were ashamed. |
| 21You, too, have given no help. You have seen my calamity, and you are afraid. | 21For now ye are nothing; ye see my casting down, and are afraid. |
| 22But why? Have I ever asked you for a gift? Have I begged for anything of yours for myself? | 22Did I say, Bring unto me? or, Give a reward for me of your substance? |
| 23Have I asked you to rescue me from my enemies, or to save me from ruthless people? | 23Or, Deliver me from the enemy's hand? or, Redeem me from the hand of the mighty? |
| 24Teach me, and I will keep quiet. Show me what I have done wrong. | 24Teach me, and I will hold my tongue: and cause me to understand wherein I have erred. |
| 25Honest words can be painful, but what do your criticisms amount to? | 25How forcible are right words! but what doth your arguing reprove? |
| 26Do you think your words are convincing when you disregard my cry of desperation? | 26Do ye imagine to reprove words, and the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind? |
| 27You would even send an orphan into slavery or sell a friend. | 27Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and ye dig a pit for your friend. |
| 28Look at me! Would I lie to your face? | 28Now therefore be content, look upon me; for it is evident unto you if I lie. |
| 29Stop assuming my guilt, for I have done no wrong. | 29Return, I pray you, let it not be iniquity; yea, return again, my righteousness is in it. |
| 30Do you think I am lying? Don’t I know the difference between right and wrong? | 30Is there iniquity in my tongue? cannot my taste discern perverse things? |
| 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. | King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com. |
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