| New Living Translation | NET Bible |
| 1Then Job spoke again: | 1Then Job replied: |
| 2“I have heard all this before. What miserable comforters you are! | 2"I have heard many things like these before. What miserable comforters are you all! |
| 3Won’t you ever stop blowing hot air? What makes you keep on talking? | 3Will there be an end to your windy words? Or what provokes 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. | 4I also could speak like you, if you were in my place; I could pile up words against you and I could shake my head at you. |
| 5But if it were me, I would encourage you. I would try to take away your grief. | 5But I would strengthen you with my words; comfort from my lips would bring you relief. |
| 6Instead, I suffer if I defend myself, and I suffer no less if I refuse to speak. | 6"But if I speak, my pain is not relieved, and if I refrain from speaking--how much of it goes away? |
| 7“O God, you have ground me down and devastated my family. | 7Surely now he has worn me out, you have devastated my entire household. |
| 8As if to prove I have sinned, you’ve reduced me to skin and bones. My gaunt flesh testifies against me. | 8You have seized me, and it has become a witness; my leanness has risen up against me and testifies against me. |
| 9God hates me and angrily tears me apart. He snaps his teeth at me and pierces me with his eyes. | 9His anger has torn me and persecuted me; he has gnashed at me with his teeth; my adversary locks his eyes on me. |
| 10People jeer and laugh at me. They slap my cheek in contempt. A mob gathers against me. | 10People have opened their mouths against me, they have struck my cheek in scorn; they unite together against me. |
| 11God has handed me over to sinners. He has tossed me into the hands of the wicked. | 11God abandons me to evil men, and throws me into the hands of wicked men. |
| 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, | 12I was in peace, and he has shattered me. He has seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has made me his target; |
| 13and now his archers surround me. His arrows pierce me without mercy. The ground is wet with my blood. | 13his archers surround me. Without pity he pierces my kidneys and pours out my gall on the ground. |
| 14Again and again he smashes against me, charging at me like a warrior. | 14He breaks through against me, time and time again; he rushes against me like a warrior. |
| 15I wear burlap to show my grief. My pride lies in the dust. | 15I have sewed sackcloth on my skin, and buried my horn in the dust; |
| 16My eyes are red with weeping; dark shadows circle my eyes. | 16my face is reddened because of weeping, and on my eyelids there is a deep darkness, |
| 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, nor let there be a secret place for my cry. |
| 19Even now my witness is in heaven. My advocate is there on high. | 19Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. |
| 20My friends scorn me, but I pour out my tears to God. | 20My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; |
| 21I need someone to mediate between God and me, as a person mediates between friends. | 21and he contends with God on behalf of man as a man pleads for his friend. |
| 22For soon I must go down that road from which I will never return. | 22For the years that lie ahead are few, and then I will go on the way of no return. |
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