| New International Version | English Standard Version |
| 1Then Job replied: | 1Then Job answered and said: |
| 2"I have heard many things like these; you are miserable comforters, all of you! | 2“I have heard many such things; miserable comforters are you all. |
| 3Will your long-winded speeches never end? What ails you that you keep on arguing? | 3Shall windy words have an end? Or what provokes you that you answer? |
| 4I also could speak like you, if you were in my place; I could make fine speeches against you and shake my head at you. | 4I also could speak as you do, if you were in my place; I could join words together against you and shake my head at you. |
| 5But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief. | 5I could strengthen you with my mouth, and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain. |
| 6"Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved; and if I refrain, it does not go away. | 6“If I speak, my pain is not assuaged, and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me? |
| 7Surely, God, you have worn me out; you have devastated my entire household. | 7Surely now God has worn me out; he has made desolate all my company. |
| 8You have shriveled me up--and it has become a witness; my gauntness rises up and testifies against me. | 8And he has shriveled me up, which is a witness against me, and my leanness has risen up against me; it testifies to my face. |
| 9God assails me and tears me in his anger and gnashes his teeth at me; my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes. | 9He has torn me in his wrath and hated me; he has gnashed his teeth at me; my adversary sharpens his eyes against me. |
| 10People open their mouths to jeer at me; they strike my cheek in scorn and unite together against me. | 10Men have gaped at me with their mouth; they have struck me insolently on the cheek; they mass themselves together against me. |
| 11God has turned me over to the ungodly and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked. | 11God gives me up to the ungodly and casts me into the hands of the wicked. |
| 12All was well with me, but he shattered me; he seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has made me his target; | 12I was at ease, and he broke me apart; he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces; he set me up as his target; |
| 13his archers surround me. Without pity, he pierces my kidneys and spills my gall on the ground. | 13his archers surround me. He slashes open my kidneys and does not spare; he pours out my gall on the ground. |
| 14Again and again he bursts upon me; he rushes at me like a warrior. | 14He breaks me with breach upon breach; he runs upon me like a warrior. |
| 15"I have sewed sackcloth over my skin and buried my brow in the dust. | 15I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin and have laid my strength in the dust. |
| 16My face is red with weeping, dark shadows ring my eyes; | 16My face is red with weeping, and on my eyelids is deep darkness, |
| 17yet my hands have been free of violence and my prayer is pure. | 17although there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure. |
| 18"Earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry never be laid to rest! | 18“O earth, cover not my blood, and let my cry find no resting place. |
| 19Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. | 19Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and he who testifies for me is on high. |
| 20My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; | 20My friends scorn me; my eye pours out tears to God, |
| 21on behalf of a man he pleads with God as one pleads for a friend. | 21that he would argue the case of a man with God, as a son of man does with his neighbor. |
| 22"Only a few years will pass before I take the path of no return. | 22For when a few years have come I shall go the way from which I shall not return. |
| New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. | ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. |
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