International Standard Version | New Living Translation |
1In response, Job said: | 1Then Job spoke again: |
2"Listen carefully to my words; let this encourage all of you. | 2“Listen closely to what I am saying. That’s one consolation you can give me. |
3Bear with me and let me speak! Then, after I've spoken, you'll be free to mock me. | 3Bear with me, and let me speak. After I have spoken, you may resume mocking me. |
4After all, isn't my complaint against a human being? If so, why shouldn't I be impatient? | 4“My complaint is with God, not with people. I have good reason to be so impatient. |
5Look at me, be appalled, and then shut up! | 5Look at me and be stunned. Put your hand over your mouth in shock. |
6When I think about this, I'm petrified with terror and my body shudders uncontrollably." | 6When I think about what I am saying, I shudder. My body trembles. |
7"Why do the wicked live to reach old age and increase in power and wealth, too? | 7“Why do the wicked prosper, growing old and powerful? |
8Their children grow up while they're alive, and they live to see their grandchildren. | 8They live to see their children grow up and settle down, and they enjoy their grandchildren. |
9Their houses are safe from fear, and God's chastisement never visits them. | 9Their homes are safe from every fear, and God does not punish them. |
10Their bull breeds without fail, and their cows calve without miscarriages. | 10Their bulls never fail to breed. Their cows bear calves and never miscarry. |
11They release their children to play like sheep; their young ones dance about, | 11They let their children frisk about like lambs. Their little ones skip and dance. |
12singing with tambourines and lyres as they rejoice to the sound of flutes. | 12They sing with tambourine and harp. They celebrate to the sound of the flute. |
13They grow old in prosperity, as they descend peacefully into the afterlife. | 13They spend their days in prosperity, then go down to the grave in peace. |
14"They say to God, 'Turn away from us! We have no desire to know your ways. | 14And yet they say to God, ‘Go away. We want no part of you and your ways. |
15Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? Where's the profit in talking to him?' | 15Who is the Almighty, and why should we obey him? What good will it do us to pray?’ |
16Behold! Their prosperity isn't in their control! The counsel of the wicked will remain far from me." | 16(They think their prosperity is of their own doing, but I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking.) |
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? | 17“Yet the light of the wicked never seems to be extinguished. Do they ever have trouble? Does God distribute sorrows to them in anger? |
18May they become like a straw, blown away before the wind; like a chaff that's swept off by a storm. | 18Are they driven before the wind like straw? Are they carried away by the storm like chaff? Not at all! |
19God stores up their iniquity to repay their children; making them repay so that they may be aware. | 19“‘Well,’ you say, ‘at least God will punish their children!’ But I say he should punish the ones who sin, so that they understand his judgment. |
20Their own eyes will see their destruction; and they'll drink the wrath of the Almighty. | 20Let them see their destruction with their own eyes. Let them drink deeply of the anger of the Almighty. |
21What will they care for their household after them, when the number of his months comes to an end?" | 21For they will not care what happens to their family after they are dead. |
22"Can God learn anything? After all, he will judge even the exalted ones. | 22“But who can teach a lesson to God, since he judges even the most powerful? |
23Such persons will die in their full vigor, completely prosperous and secure. | 23One person dies in prosperity, completely comfortable and secure, |
24His buckets are filled with milk, his bone marrow is healthy. | 24the picture of good health, vigorous and fit. |
25Others die with a bitter soul, never having tasted the good life. | 25Another person dies in bitter poverty, never having tasted the good life. |
26They both lie down in the dust; and worms cover them." | 26But both are buried in the same dust, both eaten by the same maggots. |
27"Look! I know your thoughts, your plans are going to harm me. | 27“Look, I know what you’re thinking. I know the schemes you plot against me. |
28You ask, 'Where is the noble person's house?' and 'Where are the tents where the wicked live?' | 28You will tell me of rich and wicked people whose houses have vanished because of their sins. |
29Haven't you asked travelers on the highway? Don't you accept their word | 29But ask those who have been around, and they will tell you the truth. |
30that the wicked person is spared from times of calamity, that he is rescued on the day of wrath? | 30Evil people are spared in times of calamity and are allowed to escape disaster. |
31Who will expose his conduct to his face? Who will repay him for what he has done | 31No one criticizes them openly or pays them back for what they have done. |
32when he is carried away to the cemetery and guardians are placed to watch his tomb? | 32When they are carried to the grave, an honor guard keeps watch at their tomb. |
33The runoff from the streams will seem sweet to him; everyone will follow after him; countless crows march ahead of him. | 33A great funeral procession goes to the cemetery. Many pay their respects as the body is laid to rest, and the earth gives sweet repose. |
34How then, can you console me so worthlessly? What is left of your answers is treachery." | 34“How can your empty clichés comfort me? All your explanations are lies!” |
The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. | 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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