New Living Translation NLT
Common English Bible CEB
1 Then Job spoke again:
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Then Job answered:
2 “Listen closely to what I am saying. That’s one consolation you can give me.
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Listen carefully to my remarks and let that comfort you.
3 Bear with me, and let me speak. After I have spoken, you may resume mocking me.
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Bear with me so I can speak, I myself; and after my reply you can mock.
4 “My complaint is with God, not with people. I have good reason to be so impatient.
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Are my complaints against another human; why is my patience short?
5 Look at me and be stunned. Put your hand over your mouth in shock.
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Turn to me and be appalled; lay your hand over your mouth.
6 When I think about what I am saying, I shudder. My body trembles.
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If I recall it, I'm scared; shaking seizes my body.
7 “Why do the wicked prosper, growing old and powerful?
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Why do the wicked live, grow old, and even become strong?
8 They live to see their children grow up and settle down, and they enjoy their grandchildren.
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Their children are always with them, their offspring in their sight,
9 Their homes are safe from every fear, and God does not punish them.
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their houses safe from dread, God's punishing stick not upon them.
10 Their bulls never fail to breed. Their cows bear calves and never miscarry.
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Their bull always breeds successfully; their cows give birth and never miscarry.
11 They let their children frisk about like lambs. Their little ones skip and dance.
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They send forth their little ones like sheep; their infants bounce around.
12 They sing with tambourine and harp. They celebrate to the sound of the flute.
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They raise drum and lyre, rejoice at the sound of a flute.
13 They spend their days in prosperity, then go down to the grave in peace.
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They spend their days contentedly, go down to the grave peacefully.
14 And yet they say to God, ‘Go away. We want no part of you and your ways.
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They say to God, "Turn away from us; we take no pleasure in knowing your ways;
15 Who is the Almighty, and why should we obey him? What good will it do us to pray?’
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who is the Almighty that we should serve him, and what can we gain if we meet him?"
16 (They think their prosperity is of their own doing, but I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking.)
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Look, isn't their well-being the work of their own hands? A sinner's logic is beyond me.
17 “Yet the light of the wicked never seems to be extinguished. Do they ever have trouble? Does God distribute sorrows to them in anger?
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How often does the lamp of the wicked flicker or disaster come upon them, with its fury inflicting pain on them?
18 Are they driven before the wind like straw? Are they carried away by the storm like chaff? Not at all!
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Let them be like straw in the wind, like dry grass stolen by a storm.
19 “‘Well,’ you say, ‘at least God will punish their children!’ But I say he should punish the ones who sin, so that they understand his judgment.
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God stores up his punishment for his children. Let him destroy them so they know.
20 Let them see their destruction with their own eyes. Let them drink deeply of the anger of the Almighty.
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Let their own eyes witness their doom. Let them drink from the Almighty's wrath.
21 For they will not care what happens to their family after they are dead.
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What do they care about their household after they die, when their numbered days are cut off?
22 “But who can teach a lesson to God, since he judges even the most powerful?
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Will they instruct God— he who judges the most powerful?
23 One person dies in prosperity, completely comfortable and secure,
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Someone dies in wonderful health, completely comfortable and well,
24 the picture of good health, vigorous and fit.
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their buckets full of milk, their bones marrow-filled and sound.
25 Another person dies in bitter poverty, never having tasted the good life.
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Another dies in bitter spirit, never having tasted the good things.
26 But both are buried in the same dust, both eaten by the same maggots.
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They lie together in the dust and worms cover them.
27 “Look, I know what you’re thinking. I know the schemes you plot against me.
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Look, I know your thoughts; your plans harm me.
28 You will tell me of rich and wicked people whose houses have vanished because of their sins.
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You say, "Where is the official's house? Where is the tent, the dwelling of the wicked?"
29 But ask those who have been around, and they will tell you the truth.
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Haven't you asked travelers or paid attention to their reports?
30 Evil people are spared in times of calamity and are allowed to escape disaster.
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On the day of disaster the wicked are spared; on the day of fury they are rescued.
31 No one criticizes them openly or pays them back for what they have done.
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Who can criticize their behavior to their faces; they act, and who can avenge them?
32 When they are carried to the grave, an honor guard keeps watch at their tomb.
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They are carried to their graves; someone keeps guard over their tombs.
33 A great funeral procession goes to the cemetery. Many pay their respects as the body is laid to rest, and the earth gives sweet repose.
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The soil near the desert streambed is sweet to them; everyone marches after them— those before them, beyond counting.
34 “How can your empty clichés comfort me? All your explanations are lies!”
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How empty is your comfort to me; only deceit remains in your responses.
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