New Revised Standard NRS
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 Then Job answered:
1
And Job made answer and said,
2 "I have heard many such things; miserable comforters are you all.
2
Such things have frequently come to my ears: you are comforters who only give trouble.
3 Have windy words no limit? Or what provokes you that you keep on talking?
3
May words which are like the wind be stopped? or what is troubling you to make answer to them?
4 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.
4
It would not be hard for me to say such things if your souls were in my soul's place; joining words together against you, and shaking my head at you:
5 I could encourage you with my mouth, and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain.
5
I might give you strength with my mouth, and not keep back the comfort of my lips.
6 "If I speak, my pain is not assuaged, and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me?
6
If I say what is in my mind, my pain becomes no less: and if I keep quiet, how much of it goes from me?
7 Surely now God has worn me out; he has made desolate all my company.
7
But now he has overcome me with weariness and fear, and I am in the grip of all my trouble.
8 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.
8
It has come up as a witness against me, and the wasting of my flesh makes answer to my face.
9 He has torn me in his wrath, and hated me; he has gnashed his teeth at me; my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.
9
I am broken by his wrath, and his hate has gone after me; he has made his teeth sharp against me: my haters are looking on me with cruel eyes;
10 They have gaped at me with their mouths; they have struck me insolently on the cheek; they mass themselves together against me.
10
Their mouths are open wide against me; the blows of his bitter words are falling on my face; all of them come together in a mass against me.
11 God gives me up to the ungodly, and casts me into the hands of the wicked.
11
God gives me over to the power of sinners, sending me violently into the hands of evil-doers.
12 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;
12
I was in comfort, but I have been broken up by his hands; he has taken me by the neck, shaking me to bits; he has put me up as a mark for his arrows.
13 his archers surround me. He slashes open my kidneys, and shows no mercy; he pours out my gall on the ground.
13
His bowmen come round about me; their arrows go through my body without mercy; my life is drained out on the earth.
14 He bursts upon me again and again; he rushes at me like a warrior.
14
I am broken with wound after wound; he comes rushing on me like a man of war.
15 I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and have laid my strength in the dust.
15
I have made haircloth the clothing of my skin, and my horn is rolled in the dust.
16 My face is red with weeping, and deep darkness is on my eyelids,
16
My face is red with weeping, and my eyes are becoming dark;
17 though there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure.
17
Though my hands have done no violent acts, and my prayer is clean.
18 "O earth, do not cover my blood; let my outcry find no resting place.
18
O earth, let not my blood be covered, and let my cry have no resting-place!
19 Even now, in fact, my witness is in heaven, and he that vouches for me is on high.
19
Even now my witness is in heaven, and the supporter of my cause is on high.
20 My friends scorn me; my eye pours out tears to God,
20
My friends make sport of me; to God my eyes are weeping,
21 that he would maintain the right of a mortal with God, as one does for a neighbor.
21
So that he may give decision for a man in his cause with God, and between a son of man and his neighbour.
22 For when a few years have come, I shall go the way from which I shall not return.
22
For in a short time I will take the journey from which I will not come back.
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.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.