New International Version NIV
New Revised Standard NRS
1 Then Job replied:
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Then Job answered:
2 “I have heard many things like these; you are miserable comforters, all of you!
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"I have heard many such things; miserable comforters are you all.
3 Will your long-winded speeches never end? What ails you that you keep on arguing?
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Have windy words no limit? Or what provokes you that you keep on talking?
4 I also could speak like you, if you were in my place; I could make fine speeches against you and shake my head at you.
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I also could talk as you do, if you were in my place; I could join words together against you, and shake my head at you.
5 But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief.
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I could encourage 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.
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"If I speak, my pain is not assuaged, and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me?
7 Surely, God, you have worn me out; you have devastated my entire household.
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Surely now God has worn me out; he has made desolate all my company.
8 You have shriveled me up—and it has become a witness; my gauntness rises up and testifies against me.
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And he has shriveled me up, which is a witness against me; my leanness has risen up against me, and it testifies to my face.
9 God assails me and tears me in his anger and gnashes his teeth at me; my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes.
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He has torn me in his wrath, and hated me; he has gnashed his teeth at me; my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.
10 People open their mouths to jeer at me; they strike my cheek in scorn and unite together against me.
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They have gaped at me with their mouths; they have struck me insolently on the cheek; they mass themselves together against me.
11 God has turned me over to the ungodly and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked.
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God gives me up to the ungodly, and casts me into the hands of the wicked.
12 All was well with me, but he shattered me; he seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has made me his target;
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I was at ease, and he broke me in two; he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces; he set me up as his target;
13 his archers surround me. Without pity, he pierces my kidneys and spills my gall on the ground.
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his archers surround me. He slashes open my kidneys, and shows no mercy; he pours out my gall on the ground.
14 Again and again he bursts upon me; he rushes at me like a warrior.
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He bursts upon me again and again; he rushes at me like a warrior.
15 “I have sewed sackcloth over my skin and buried my brow in the dust.
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I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and have laid my strength in the dust.
16 My face is red with weeping, dark shadows ring my eyes;
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My face is red with weeping, and deep darkness is on my eyelids,
17 yet my hands have been free of violence and my prayer is pure.
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though 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!
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"O earth, do not cover my blood; let my outcry find no resting place.
19 Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high.
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Even now, in fact, my witness is in heaven, and he that vouches for me is on high.
20 My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God;
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My friends scorn me; my eye pours out tears to God,
21 on behalf of a man he pleads with God as one pleads for a friend.
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that he would maintain the right of a mortal with God, as one does for a neighbor.
22 “Only a few years will pass before I take the path of no return.
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For when a few years have come, I shall go the way from which I shall not return.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.