New Living Translation | International Standard Version |
1Then Job spoke again: | 1This was Job's response: |
2“Yes, I know all this is true in principle. But how can a person be declared innocent in God’s sight? | 2"Indeed, I'm fully aware that this is so, but how can a person become right with God? |
3If someone wanted to take God to court, would it be possible to answer him even once in a thousand times? | 3If one were to seek to argue with him, he won't be able to answer him even once in a thousand times. |
4For God is so wise and so mighty. Who has ever challenged him successfully? | 4He is wise in heart and strong in will— who can be stubborn against him and succeed? |
5“Without warning, he moves the mountains, overturning them in his anger. | 5"He removes mountains without their knowledge, overthrowing them in his anger. |
6He shakes the earth from its place, and its foundations tremble. | 6He shakes the earth from its orbit, so that its foundations shudder. |
7If he commands it, the sun won’t rise and the stars won’t shine. | 7He commands the sun so that it doesn't shine and seals up the stars. |
8He alone has spread out the heavens and marches on the waves of the sea. | 8He alone spreads out the heavens, he walks on the waves of the sea. |
9He made all the stars—the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the southern sky. | 9He created Bear, Orion, the Pleiades, and the southern constellations. |
10He does great things too marvelous to understand. He performs countless miracles. | 10He does great things that cannot be explained, and awesome deeds that cannot be counted. |
11“Yet when he comes near, I cannot see him. When he moves by, I do not see him go. | 11"If he were to pass near me, I wouldn't notice; if he moves by, I wouldn't perceive him. |
12If he snatches someone in death, who can stop him? Who dares to ask, ‘What are you doing?’ | 12Indeed, if he snatches someone away, who could restrain him? Who can say to him, 'What are you doing?' |
13And God does not restrain his anger. Even the monsters of the sea are crushed beneath his feet. | 13"God doesn't restrain his anger. Rahab's assistants are humiliated under him. |
14“So who am I, that I should try to answer God or even reason with him? | 14So how am I to answer him, choosing what I am to say to him? |
15Even if I were right, I would have no defense. I could only plead for mercy. | 15Even if I'm in the right, I cannot answer him. I can only appeal for mercy. |
16And even if I summoned him and he responded, I’m not sure he would listen to me. | 16"Were I to be summoned, and he were to answer me, I wouldn't even believe that he was listening to what I have to say. |
17For he attacks me with a storm and repeatedly wounds me without cause. | 17For he crushes me with a storm, and keeps on wounding me for no reason. |
18He will not let me catch my breath, but fills me instead with bitter sorrows. | 18He won't let me catch my breath; instead, he fills me with bitterness. |
19If it’s a question of strength, he’s the strong one. If it’s a matter of justice, who dares to summon him to court? | 19"Is this a contest of strength? He is obviously stronger! Is this a matter of justice? Who can sue him? |
20Though I am innocent, my own mouth would pronounce me guilty. Though I am blameless, it would prove me wicked. | 20Though I'm in the right, my own mouth will condemn me; though I'm blameless, he'll pronounce me as guilty. |
21“I am innocent, but it makes no difference to me— I despise my life. | 21"I'm blameless; I don't know myself; I despise my life. |
22Innocent or wicked, it is all the same to God. That’s why I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’ | 22I say it's all the same— he destroys both the blameless and the guilty. |
23When a plague sweeps through, he laughs at the death of the innocent. | 23If a calamity causes sudden death, he'll mock at the despair of the innocent. |
24The whole earth is in the hands of the wicked, and God blinds the eyes of the judges. If he’s not the one who does it, who is? | 24A land is given into the hands of a wicked person; he covers the faces of its judges. If it is not God, then who is it?" |
25“My life passes more swiftly than a runner. It flees away without a glimpse of happiness. | 25"My days pass faster than a runner; but they pass quickly without seeing anything good. |
26It disappears like a swift papyrus boat, like an eagle swooping down on its prey. | 26They pass by like a ship made of reeds, like an eagle swooping down on its prey. |
27If I decided to forget my complaints, to put away my sad face and be cheerful, | 27If I were to say, 'Let me forget my complaint,' change the expression on my face, and look cheerful, |
28I would still dread all the pain, for I know you will not find me innocent, O God. | 28then I still dread all of my suffering; I know you still won't acquit me. |
29Whatever happens, I will be found guilty. So what’s the use of trying? | 29I will be condemned, so why should I wear myself out with this futility? |
30Even if I were to wash myself with soap and clean my hands with lye, | 30"If I wash myself with water from snow, and cleanse my hands with lye, |
31you would plunge me into a muddy ditch, and my own filthy clothing would hate me. | 31you'll still drop me into the Pit, and my own clothes will despise me. |
32“God is not a mortal like me, so I cannot argue with him or take him to trial. | 32He's not a man like me, so that I can answer him, or that we can enter into litigation with one another. |
33If only there were a mediator between us, someone who could bring us together. | 33There is not yet a mediator between us, who would set his hand on the two of us, |
34The mediator could make God stop beating me, and I would no longer live in terror of his punishment. | 34removing his rod from me, and not letting terror of him overwhelm me. |
35Then I could speak to him without fear, but I cannot do that in my own strength. | 35Otherwise, I would speak without being terrified of him, because I'm not like that inside myself." |
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. | The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. |
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