| New Living Translation | New American Standard Bible 1995 |
| 1Then Job spoke again: | 1Then Job answered, |
| 2“I have heard all this before. What miserable comforters you are! | 2"I have heard many such things; Sorry comforters are you all. |
| 3Won’t you ever stop blowing hot air? What makes you keep on talking? | 3"Is there no limit to windy words? Or what plagues you that you answer? |
| 4I could say the same things if you were in my place. I could spout off criticism and shake my head at you. | 4"I too could speak like you, If I were in your place. I could compose words against you And shake my head at you. |
| 5But if it were me, I would encourage you. I would try to take away your grief. | 5"I could strengthen you with my mouth, And the solace of my lips could lessen your pain. |
| 6Instead, I suffer if I defend myself, and I suffer no less if I refuse to speak. | 6"If I speak, my pain is not lessened, And if I hold back, what has left me? |
| 7“O God, you have ground me down and devastated my family. | 7"But now He has exhausted me; You have laid waste all my company. |
| 8As if to prove I have sinned, you’ve reduced me to skin and bones. My gaunt flesh testifies against me. | 8"You have shriveled me up, It has become a witness; And my leanness rises up against me, It testifies to my face. |
| 9God hates me and angrily tears me apart. He snaps his teeth at me and pierces me with his eyes. | 9"His anger has torn me and hunted me down, He has gnashed at me with His teeth; My adversary glares at me. |
| 10People jeer and laugh at me. They slap my cheek in contempt. A mob gathers against me. | 10"They have gaped at me with their mouth, They have slapped me on the cheek with contempt; They have massed themselves against me. |
| 11God has handed me over to sinners. He has tossed me into the hands of the wicked. | 11"God hands me over to ruffians And tosses me into the hands of the wicked. |
| 12“I was living quietly until he shattered me. He took me by the neck and broke me in pieces. Then he set me up as his target, | 12"I was at ease, but He shattered me, And He has grasped me by the neck and shaken me to pieces; He has also set me up as His target. |
| 13and now his archers surround me. His arrows pierce me without mercy. The ground is wet with my blood. | 13"His arrows surround me. Without mercy He splits my kidneys open; He pours out my gall on the ground. |
| 14Again and again he smashes against me, charging at me like a warrior. | 14"He breaks through me with breach after breach; He runs at me like a warrior. |
| 15I wear burlap to show my grief. My pride lies in the dust. | 15"I have sewed sackcloth over my skin And thrust my horn in the dust. |
| 16My eyes are red with weeping; dark shadows circle my eyes. | 16"My face is flushed from weeping, And deep darkness is on my eyelids, |
| 17Yet I have done no wrong, and my prayer is pure. | 17Although there is no violence in my hands, And my prayer is pure. |
| 18“O earth, do not conceal my blood. Let it cry out on my behalf. | 18"O earth, do not cover my blood, And let there be no resting place for my cry. |
| 19Even now my witness is in heaven. My advocate is there on high. | 19"Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, And my advocate is on high. |
| 20My friends scorn me, but I pour out my tears to God. | 20"My friends are my scoffers; My eye weeps to God. |
| 21I need someone to mediate between God and me, as a person mediates between friends. | 21"O that a man might plead with God As a man with his neighbor! |
| 22For soon I must go down that road from which I will never return. | 22"For when a few years are past, I shall go the way of no return. |
| 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. | New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit //www.lockman.org |
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