New Living Translation NLT
Common English Bible CEB
1 Then Job spoke again:
1
Then Job responded:
2 “How long will you torture me? How long will you try to crush me with your words?
2
How long will you harass me and crush me with words?
3 You have already insulted me ten times. You should be ashamed of treating me so badly.
3
These ten times you've humiliated me; shamelessly you insult me.
4 Even if I have sinned, that is my concern, not yours.
4
Have I really gone astray? If so, my error remains hidden inside me.
5 You think you’re better than I am, using my humiliation as evidence of my sin.
5
If you look down on me and use my disgrace to criticize me,
6 But it is God who has wronged me, capturing me in his net.
6
know then that God has wronged me and enclosed his net over me.
7 “I cry out, ‘Help!’ but no one answers me. I protest, but there is no justice.
7
If I cry "Violence!" I'm not answered; I shout—but there is no justice.
8 God has blocked my way so I cannot move. He has plunged my path into darkness.
8
He walled up my path so I can't pass and put darkness on my trail,
9 He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head.
9
stripped my honor from me, removed the crown from my head,
10 He has demolished me on every side, and I am finished. He has uprooted my hope like a fallen tree.
10
tore me down completely so that I'll die, and uprooted my hope like a tree.
11 His fury burns against me; he counts me as an enemy.
11
His anger burns against me; he considers me his enemy.
12 His troops advance. They build up roads to attack me. They camp all around my tent.
12
His troops come as one and construct their siege ramp against me; they camp around my tent.
13 “My relatives stay far away, and my friends have turned against me.
13
He has distanced my family from me; my acquaintances are also alienated from me. those who know me have forgotten me. I'm a foreigner in their sight.
14 My family is gone, and my close friends have forgotten me.
14
My visitors have ceased;
15 My servants and maids consider me a stranger. I am like a foreigner to them.
15
My guests and female servants think me a stranger;
16 When I call my servant, he doesn’t come; I have to plead with him!
16
I call my servant, and he doesn't answer; I myself must beg him.
17 My breath is repulsive to my wife. I am rejected by my own family.
17
My breath stinks to my wife; I am odious to my children.
18 Even young children despise me. When I stand to speak, they turn their backs on me.
18
Even the young despise me; I get up, and they rail against me.
19 My close friends detest me. Those I loved have turned against me.
19
All my closest friends despise me; the ones I have loved turn against me.
20 I have been reduced to skin and bones and have escaped death by the skin of my teeth.
20
My bones cling to my skin and flesh; I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21 “Have mercy on me, my friends, have mercy, for the hand of God has struck me.
21
Pity me. Pity me. You're my friends. God's hand has truly struck me.
22 Must you also persecute me, like God does? Haven’t you chewed me up enough?
22
Why do you pursue me like God does, always hungry for my flesh?
23 “Oh, that my words could be recorded. Oh, that they could be inscribed on a monument,
23
Oh, that my words were written down, inscribed on a scroll
24 carved with an iron chisel and filled with lead, engraved forever in the rock.
24
with an iron instrument and lead, forever engraved on stone.
25 “But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last.
25
But I know that my redeemer is alive and afterward he'll rise upon the dust.
26 And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God!
26
After my skin has been torn apart this way— then from my flesh I'll see God,
27 I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought!
27
whom I'll see myself— my eyes see, and not a stranger's. I am utterly dejected.
28 “How dare you go on persecuting me, saying, ‘It’s his own fault’?
28
You say, "How will we pursue him so that the root of the matter can be found in him?"
29 You should fear punishment yourselves, for your attitude deserves punishment. Then you will know that there is indeed a judgment.”
29
You ought to fear the sword yourselves, for wrath brings punishment by the sword. You should know that there is judgment.
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