The Bible in Basic English BBE
Good News Translation GNT
1 Then Job made answer and said,
1
What a big help you are to me -
2 How have you given help to him who has no power! how have you been the salvation of the arm which has no strength!
2
poor, weak man that I am!
3 How have you given teaching to him who has no wisdom, and fully made clear true knowledge!
3
You give such good advice and share your knowledge with a fool like me!
4 To whom have your words been said? and whose spirit came out from you?
4
Who do you think will hear all your words? Who inspired you to speak like this?
5 The shades in the underworld are shaking; the waters and those living in them.
5
The spirits of the dead tremble in the waters under the earth.
6 The underworld is uncovered before him, and Destruction has no veil.
6
The world of the dead lies open to God; no covering shields it from his sight.
7 By his hand the north is stretched out in space, and the earth is hanging on nothing.
7
God stretched out the northern sky and hung the earth in empty space.
8 By him the waters are shut up in his thick clouds, and the cloud does not give way under them.
8
It is God who fills the clouds with water and keeps them from bursting with the weight.
9 By him the face of his high seat is veiled, and his cloud stretched out over it.
9
He hides the full moon behind a cloud.
10 By him a circle is marked out on the face of the waters, to the limits of the light and the dark.
10
He divided light from darkness by a circle drawn on the face of the sea.
11 The pillars of heaven are shaking, and are overcome by his sharp words.
11
When he threatens the pillars that hold up the sky, they shake and tremble with fear.
12 By his power the sea was made quiet; and by his wisdom Rahab was wounded.
12
It is his strength that conquered the sea; by his skill he destroyed the monster Rahab.
13 By his wind the heavens become bright: by his hand the quickly moving snake was cut through.
13
It is his breath that made the sky clear, and his hand that killed the escaping monster.
14 See, these are only the outskirts of his ways; and how small is that which comes to our ears about him! But the thunder of his acts of power is outside all knowledge.
14
But these are only hints of his power, only the whispers that we have heard. Who can know how truly great God is?
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.