| Holman Christian Standard Bible | International Standard Version |
| 1Then Job answered: | 1In response, Job said: |
| 2Pay close attention to my words; let this be the consolation you offer. | 2"Listen carefully to my words; let this encourage all of you. |
| 3Bear with me while I speak; then after I have spoken, you may continue mocking. | 3Bear with me and let me speak! Then, after I've spoken, you'll be free to mock me. |
| 4As for me, is my complaint against a man? Then why shouldn't I be impatient? | 4After all, isn't my complaint against a human being? If so, why shouldn't I be impatient? |
| 5Look at me and shudder; put your hand over your mouth. | 5Look at me, be appalled, and then shut up! |
| 6When I think about it, I am terrified and my body trembles in horror. | 6When I think about this, I'm petrified with terror and my body shudders uncontrollably." |
| 7Why do the wicked continue to live, growing old and becoming powerful? | 7"Why do the wicked live to reach old age and increase in power and wealth, too? |
| 8Their children are established while they are still alive, and their descendants, before their eyes. | 8Their children grow up while they're alive, and they live to see their grandchildren. |
| 9Their homes are secure and free of fear; no rod from God strikes them. | 9Their houses are safe from fear, and God's chastisement never visits them. |
| 10Their bulls breed without fail; their cows calve and do not miscarry. | 10Their bull breeds without fail, and their cows calve without miscarriages. |
| 11They let their little ones run around like lambs; their children skip about, | 11They release their children to play like sheep; their young ones dance about, |
| 12singing to the tambourine and lyre and rejoicing at the sound of the flute. | 12singing with tambourines and lyres as they rejoice to the sound of flutes. |
| 13They spend their days in prosperity and go down to Sheol in peace. | 13They grow old in prosperity, as they descend peacefully into the afterlife. |
| 14Yet they say to God: "Leave us alone! We don't want to know Your ways. | 14"They say to God, 'Turn away from us! We have no desire to know your ways. |
| 15Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him, and what will we gain by pleading with Him?" | 15Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? Where's the profit in talking to him?' |
| 16But their prosperity is not of their own doing. The counsel of the wicked is far from me! | 16Behold! Their prosperity isn't in their control! The counsel of the wicked will remain far from me." |
| 17How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? Does disaster come on them? Does He apportion destruction in His anger? | 17"How often do the wicked have their lights put out? Does calamity ever fall on them? Will God in his anger ever apportion their destruction? |
| 18Are they like straw before the wind, like chaff a storm sweeps away? | 18May they become like a straw, blown away before the wind; like a chaff that's swept off by a storm. |
| 19God reserves a person's punishment for his children. Let God repay the person himself, so that he may know it. | 19God stores up their iniquity to repay their children; making them repay so that they may be aware. |
| 20Let his own eyes see his demise; let him drink from the Almighty's wrath! | 20Their own eyes will see their destruction; and they'll drink the wrath of the Almighty. |
| 21For what does he care about his family once he is dead, when the number of his months has run out? | 21What will they care for their household after them, when the number of his months comes to an end?" |
| 22Can anyone teach God knowledge, since He judges the exalted ones? | 22"Can God learn anything? After all, he will judge even the exalted ones. |
| 23One person dies in excellent health, completely secure and at ease. | 23Such persons will die in their full vigor, completely prosperous and secure. |
| 24His body is well fed, and his bones are full of marrow. | 24His buckets are filled with milk, his bone marrow is healthy. |
| 25Yet another person dies with a bitter soul, having never tasted prosperity. | 25Others die with a bitter soul, never having tasted the good life. |
| 26But they both lie in the dust, and worms cover them. | 26They both lie down in the dust; and worms cover them." |
| 27I know your thoughts very well, the schemes you would wrong me with. | 27"Look! I know your thoughts, your plans are going to harm me. |
| 28For you say, "Where now is the nobleman's house?" and "Where are the tents the wicked lived in?" | 28You ask, 'Where is the noble person's house?' and 'Where are the tents where the wicked live?' |
| 29Have you never consulted those who travel the roads? Don't you accept their reports? | 29Haven't you asked travelers on the highway? Don't you accept their word |
| 30Indeed, the evil man is spared from the day of disaster, rescued from the day of wrath. | 30that the wicked person is spared from times of calamity, that he is rescued on the day of wrath? |
| 31Who would denounce his behavior to his face? Who would repay him for what he has done? | 31Who will expose his conduct to his face? Who will repay him for what he has done |
| 32He is carried to the grave, and someone keeps watch over his tomb. | 32when he is carried away to the cemetery and guardians are placed to watch his tomb? |
| 33The dirt on his grave is sweet to him. Everyone follows behind him, and those who go before him are without number. | 33The runoff from the streams will seem sweet to him; everyone will follow after him; countless crows march ahead of him. |
| 34So how can you offer me such futile comfort? Your answers are deceptive. | 34How then, can you console me so worthlessly? What is left of your answers is treachery." |
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