| Christian Standard Bible | New American Standard Bible 1995 |
| 1Then Job answered: | 1Then Job answered, |
| 2I have heard many things like these. You are all miserable comforters. | 2"I have heard many such things; Sorry comforters are you all. |
| 3Is there no end to your empty words? What provokes you that you continue testifying? | 3"Is there no limit to windy words? Or what plagues you that you answer? |
| 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. | 4"I too could speak like you, If I were in your place. I could compose words 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. | 5"I could strengthen you with my mouth, And the solace of my lips could lessen your pain. |
| 6If I speak, my suffering is not relieved, and if I hold back, does any of it leave me? | 6"If I speak, my pain is not lessened, And if I hold back, what has left me? |
| 7Surely he has now exhausted me. You have devastated my entire family. | 7"But now He has exhausted me; You have laid waste all my company. |
| 8You have shriveled me up--it has become a witness; my frailty rises up against me and testifies to my face. | 8"You have shriveled me up, It has become a witness; And my leanness rises up against me, It testifies to my face. |
| 9His anger tears at me, and he harasses me. He gnashes his teeth at me. My enemy pierces me with his eyes. | 9"His anger has torn me and hunted me down, He has gnashed at me with His teeth; My adversary glares at me. |
| 10They open their mouths against me and strike my cheeks with contempt; they join themselves together against me. | 10"They have gaped at me with their mouth, They have slapped me on the cheek with contempt; They have massed themselves against me. |
| 11God hands me over to the unjust; he throws me to the wicked. | 11"God hands me over to ruffians And tosses me into the hands 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; | 12"I was at ease, but He shattered me, And He has grasped me by the neck and shaken me to pieces; He has also set me up as His target. |
| 13his archers surround me. He pierces my kidneys without mercy and pours my bile on the ground. | 13"His arrows surround me. Without mercy He splits my kidneys open; He pours out my gall on the ground. |
| 14He breaks through my defenses again and again; he charges at me like a warrior. | 14"He breaks through me with breach after breach; He runs 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 thrust my horn in the dust. |
| 16My face has grown red with weeping, and darkness covers my eyes, | 16"My face is flushed from weeping, And deep darkness is on my eyelids, |
| 17although my hands are free from violence and my prayer is pure. | 17Although there is no violence in my hands, And my prayer is pure. |
| 18Earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry for help find no resting place. | 18"O earth, do not cover my blood, And let there be no resting place for my cry. |
| 19Even now my witness is in heaven, and my advocate is in the heights! | 19"Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, And my advocate is on high. |
| 20My friends scoff at me as I weep before God. | 20"My friends are my scoffers; My eye weeps to God. |
| 21I wish that someone might argue for a man with God just as anyone would for a friend. | 21"O that a man might plead with God As a man with his neighbor! |
| 22For only a few years will pass before I go the way of no return. | 22"For when a few years are past, I shall go the way of no return. |
| The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. | New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit //www.lockman.org |
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