New Living Translation | English Standard Version |
1“Listen to my words, Job; pay attention to what I have to say. | 1“But now, hear my speech, O Job, and listen to all my words. |
2Now that I have begun to speak, let me continue. | 2Behold, I open my mouth; the tongue in my mouth speaks. |
3I speak with all sincerity; I speak the truth. | 3My words declare the uprightness of my heart, and what my lips know they speak sincerely. |
4For the Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. | 4The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. |
5Answer me, if you can; make your case and take your stand. | 5Answer me, if you can; set your words in order before me; take your stand. |
6Look, you and I both belong to God. I, too, was formed from clay. | 6Behold, I am toward God as you are; I too was pinched off from a piece of clay. |
7So you don’t need to be afraid of me. I won’t come down hard on you. | 7Behold, no fear of me need terrify you; my pressure will not be heavy upon you. |
8“You have spoken in my hearing, and I have heard your very words. | 8“Surely you have spoken in my ears, and I have heard the sound of your words. |
9You said, ‘I am pure; I am without sin; I am innocent; I have no guilt. | 9You say, ‘I am pure, without transgression; I am clean, and there is no iniquity in me. |
10God is picking a quarrel with me, and he considers me his enemy. | 10Behold, he finds occasions against me, he counts me as his enemy, |
11He puts my feet in the stocks and watches my every move.’ | 11he puts my feet in the stocks and watches all my paths.’ |
12“But you are wrong, and I will show you why. For God is greater than any human being. | 12“Behold, in this you are not right. I will answer you, for God is greater than man. |
13So why are you bringing a charge against him? Why say he does not respond to people’s complaints? | 13Why do you contend against him, saying, ‘He will answer none of man’s words’? |
14For God speaks again and again, though people do not recognize it. | 14For God speaks in one way, and in two, though man does not perceive it. |
15He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they lie in their beds. | 15In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, while they slumber on their beds, |
16He whispers in their ears and terrifies them with warnings. | 16then he opens the ears of men and terrifies them with warnings, |
17He makes them turn from doing wrong; he keeps them from pride. | 17that he may turn man aside from his deed and conceal pride from a man; |
18He protects them from the grave, from crossing over the river of death. | 18he keeps back his soul from the pit, his life from perishing by the sword. |
19“Or God disciplines people with pain on their sickbeds, with ceaseless aching in their bones. | 19“Man is also rebuked with pain on his bed and with continual strife in his bones, |
20They lose their appetite for even the most delicious food. | 20so that his life loathes bread, and his appetite the choicest food. |
21Their flesh wastes away, and their bones stick out. | 21His flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen, and his bones that were not seen stick out. |
22They are at death’s door; the angels of death wait for them. | 22His soul draws near the pit, and his life to those who bring death. |
23“But if an angel from heaven appears— a special messenger to intercede for a person and declare that he is upright— | 23If there be for him an angel, a mediator, one of the thousand, to declare to man what is right for him, |
24he will be gracious and say, ‘Rescue him from the grave, for I have found a ransom for his life.’ | 24and he is merciful to him, and says, ‘Deliver him from going down into the pit; I have found a ransom; |
25Then his body will become as healthy as a child’s, firm and youthful again. | 25let his flesh become fresh with youth; let him return to the days of his youthful vigor’; |
26When he prays to God, he will be accepted. And God will receive him with joy and restore him to good standing. | 26then man prays to God, and he accepts him; he sees his face with a shout of joy, and he restores to man his righteousness. |
27He will declare to his friends, ‘I sinned and twisted the truth, but it was not worth it. | 27He sings before men and says: ‘I sinned and perverted what was right, and it was not repaid to me. |
28God rescued me from the grave, and now my life is filled with light.’ | 28He has redeemed my soul from going down into the pit, and my life shall look upon the light.’ |
29“Yes, God does these things again and again for people. | 29“Behold, God does all these things, twice, three times, with a man, |
30He rescues them from the grave so they may enjoy the light of life. | 30to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be lighted with the light of life. |
31Mark this well, Job. Listen to me, for I have more to say. | 31Pay attention, O Job, listen to me; be silent, and I will speak. |
32But if you have anything to say, go ahead. Speak, for I am anxious to see you justified. | 32If you have any words, answer me; speak, for I desire to justify you. |
33But if not, then listen to me. Keep silent and I will teach you wisdom!” | 33If not, listen to me; be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.” |
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. | 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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