New Living Translation NLT
Common English Bible CEB
1 Then Job spoke again:
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Then Job answered:
2 “I have heard all this before. What miserable comforters you are!
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I've heard many things like these. All of you are sorry comforters.
3 Won’t you ever stop blowing hot air? What makes you keep on talking?
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Will windy talk ever cease; what bothers you that you must argue?
4 I could say the same things if you were in my place. I could spout off criticism and shake my head at you.
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In your situation I could speak like you; I could put words together to oppose you, shake my head over you.
5 But if it were me, I would encourage you. I would try to take away your grief.
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I could heap up words, strengthen you with my speech; my trembling lips would be held in check.
6 Instead, I suffer if I defend myself, and I suffer no less if I refuse to speak.
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If I speak, my pain is not eased; if I hold back, what have I lost?
7 “O God, you have ground me down and devastated my family.
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Now God has surely worn me out. You have destroyed my entire group,
8 As if to prove I have sinned, you’ve reduced me to skin and bones. My gaunt flesh testifies against me.
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seized me, which became grounds for an accusation. My leanness rises to bear witness against me.
9 God hates me and angrily tears me apart. He snaps his teeth at me and pierces me with his eyes.
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His anger tears me and afflicts me; he slashes at me with his teeth. My enemy pierces me with his eyes.
10 People jeer and laugh at me. They slap my cheek in contempt. A mob gathers against me.
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They open their mouths at me and strike my cheek in a taunt; they gang up on me.
11 God has handed me over to sinners. He has tossed me into the hands of the wicked.
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God delivers me to a criminal and forces 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,
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I was at rest, but he shattered me, seized me by the back of my neck, dashed me into pieces; he raised me up for his target.
13 and now his archers surround me. His arrows pierce me without mercy. The ground is wet with my blood.
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His archers surround me; he cuts my kidneys open without pity and doesn't care, pours my gall on the ground,
14 Again and again he smashes against me, charging at me like a warrior.
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bursts me open over and over, runs against me like a strong man.
15 I wear burlap to show my grief. My pride lies in the dust.
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I've sewed rough cloth over my skin and buried my dignity in the dust.
16 My eyes are red with weeping; dark shadows circle my eyes.
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My face is red from crying, and dark gloom hangs on my eyelids.
17 Yet I have done no wrong, and my prayer is pure.
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But 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.
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Earth, don't cover my blood; let my outcry never cease.
19 Even now my witness is in heaven. My advocate is there on high.
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Surely now my witness stands in heaven; my advocate is on high;
20 My friends scorn me, but I pour out my tears to God.
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my go-between, my friend. While my eyes drip tears to God,
21 I need someone to mediate between God and me, as a person mediates between friends.
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let him plead with God for a human being, like a person pleads for a friend.
22 For soon I must go down that road from which I will never return.
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A number of years will surely pass, and then I'll walk a path that I won't return.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible