International Standard Version | Berean Study Bible |
1In response, Job said: | 1Then Job answered: |
2"Listen carefully to my words; let this encourage all of you. | 2“Listen carefully to my words; let this be your consolation to me. |
3Bear with me and let me speak! Then, after I've spoken, you'll be free to mock me. | 3Bear with me while I speak; then, after I have spoken, you may go on mocking. |
4After all, isn't my complaint against a human being? If so, why shouldn't I be impatient? | 4Is my complaint against a man? Then why should I not be impatient? |
5Look at me, be appalled, and then shut up! | 5Look at me and be appalled; put your hand over your mouth. |
6When I think about this, I'm petrified with terror and my body shudders uncontrollably." | 6When I remember, terror takes hold, and my body trembles in horror. |
7"Why do the wicked live to reach old age and increase in power and wealth, too? | 7Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power? |
8Their children grow up while they're alive, and they live to see their grandchildren. | 8Their descendants are established around them, and their offspring before their eyes. |
9Their houses are safe from fear, and God's chastisement never visits them. | 9Their homes are safe from fear; no rod of punishment from God is upon them. |
10Their bull breeds without fail, and their cows calve without miscarriages. | 10Their bulls breed without fail; their cows bear calves and do not miscarry. |
11They release their children to play like sheep; their young ones dance about, | 11They send forth their little ones like a flock; their children skip about, |
12singing with tambourines and lyres as they rejoice to the sound of flutes. | 12singing to the tambourine and lyre and making merry at the sound of the flute. |
13They grow old in prosperity, as they descend peacefully into the afterlife. | 13They spend their days in prosperity and go down to Sheol in peace. |
14"They say to God, 'Turn away from us! We have no desire to know your ways. | 14Yet they say to God: ‘Leave us alone! For we have no desire to know Your ways. |
15Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? Where's the profit in talking to him?' | 15Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him, and what would we gain if we pray to Him?’ |
16Behold! Their prosperity isn't in their control! The counsel of the wicked will remain far from me." | 16Still, their prosperity is not in their own hands, so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked. |
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? | 17How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? Does disaster come upon them? Does God, in His anger, apportion destruction? |
18May they become like a straw, blown away before the wind; like a chaff that's swept off by a storm. | 18Are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a storm? |
19God stores up their iniquity to repay their children; making them repay so that they may be aware. | 19It is said that God lays up one’s punishment for his children. Let God repay the man himself, so he will know it. |
20Their own eyes will see their destruction; and they'll drink the wrath of the Almighty. | 20Let his eyes see his own destruction; let him drink for himself the wrath of the Almighty. |
21What will they care for their household after them, when the number of his months comes to an end?" | 21For what does he care about his household after him, when the number of his months has run out? |
22"Can God learn anything? After all, he will judge even the exalted ones. | 22Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since He judges those on high? |
23Such persons will die in their full vigor, completely prosperous and secure. | 23One man dies full of vigor, completely secure and at ease. |
24His buckets are filled with milk, his bone marrow is healthy. | 24His body is well nourished, and his bones are rich with marrow. |
25Others die with a bitter soul, never having tasted the good life. | 25Yet another man dies in the bitterness of his soul, having never tasted prosperity. |
26They both lie down in the dust; and worms cover them." | 26But together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover them both. |
27"Look! I know your thoughts, your plans are going to harm me. | 27Behold, I know your thoughts full well, the schemes by which you would wrong me. |
28You ask, 'Where is the noble person's house?' and 'Where are the tents where the wicked live?' | 28For you say, ‘Where now is the nobleman’s house, and where are the tents in which the wicked dwell?’ |
29Haven't you asked travelers on the highway? Don't you accept their word | 29Have you never asked those who travel the roads? Do you not accept their reports? |
30that the wicked person is spared from times of calamity, that he is rescued on the day of wrath? | 30Indeed, the evil man is spared from the day of calamity, delivered from the day of wrath. |
31Who will expose his conduct to his face? Who will repay him for what he has done | 31Who denounces his behavior to his face? Who repays him for what he has done? |
32when he is carried away to the cemetery and guardians are placed to watch his tomb? | 32He is carried to the grave, and watch is kept over his tomb. |
33The runoff from the streams will seem sweet to him; everyone will follow after him; countless crows march ahead of him. | 33The clods of the valley are sweet to him; everyone follows behind him, and those before him are without number. |
34How then, can you console me so worthlessly? What is left of your answers is treachery." | 34So how can you comfort me with empty words? For your answers remain full of falsehood.” |
The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. | The Berean Bible (Berean Study Bible (BSB) © 2016, 2018 by Bible Hub and Berean.Bible. Used by Permission. All rights Reserved. |
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