New International Version NIV
Young's Literal Translation YLT
1 Then Job replied:
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And Job answereth and saith: --
2 “If only my anguish could be weighed and all my misery be placed on the scales!
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O that my provocation were thoroughly weighed, And my calamity in balances They would lift up together!
3 It would surely outweigh the sand of the seas— no wonder my words have been impetuous.
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For now, than the sands of the sea it is heavier, Therefore my words have been rash.
4 The arrows of the Almighty are in me, my spirit drinks in their poison; God’s terrors are marshaled against me.
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For arrows of the Mighty [are] with me, Whose poison is drinking up my spirit. Terrors of God array themselves [for] me!
5 Does a wild donkey bray when it has grass, or an ox bellow when it has fodder?
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Brayeth a wild ass over tender grass? Loweth an ox over his provender?
6 Is tasteless food eaten without salt, or is there flavor in the sap of the mallow ?
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Eaten is an insipid thing without salt? Is there sense in the drivel of dreams?
7 I refuse to touch it; such food makes me ill.
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My soul is refusing to touch! They [are] as my sickening food.
8 “Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant what I hope for,
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O that my request may come, That God may grant my hope!
9 that God would be willing to crush me, to let loose his hand and cut off my life!
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That God would please -- and bruise me, Loose His hand and cut me off!
10 Then I would still have this consolation— my joy in unrelenting pain— that I had not denied the words of the Holy One.
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And yet it is my comfort, (And I exult in pain -- He doth not spare,) That I have not hidden The sayings of the Holy One.
11 “What strength do I have, that I should still hope? What prospects, that I should be patient?
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What [is] my power that I should hope? And what mine end That I should prolong my life?
12 Do I have the strength of stone? Is my flesh bronze?
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Is my strength the strength of stones? Is my flesh brazen?
13 Do I have any power to help myself, now that success has been driven from me?
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Is not my help with me, And substance driven from me?
14 “Anyone who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
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To a despiser of his friends [is] shame, And the fear of the Mighty he forsaketh.
15 But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams, as the streams that overflow
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My brethren have deceived as a brook, As a stream of brooks they pass away.
16 when darkened by thawing ice and swollen with melting snow,
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That are black because of ice, By them doth snow hide itself.
17 but that stop flowing in the dry season, and in the heat vanish from their channels.
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By the time they are warm they have been cut off, By its being hot they have been Extinguished from their place.
18 Caravans turn aside from their routes; they go off into the wasteland and perish.
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Turn aside do the paths of their way, They ascend into emptiness, and are lost.
19 The caravans of Tema look for water, the traveling merchants of Sheba look in hope.
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Passengers of Tema looked expectingly, Travellers of Sheba hoped for them.
20 They are distressed, because they had been confident; they arrive there, only to be disappointed.
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They were ashamed that one hath trusted, They have come unto it and are confounded.
21 Now you too have proved to be of no help; you see something dreadful and are afraid.
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Surely now ye have become the same! Ye see a downfall, and are afraid.
22 Have I ever said, ‘Give something on my behalf, pay a ransom for me from your wealth,
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Is it because I said, Give to me? And, By your power bribe for me?
23 deliver me from the hand of the enemy, rescue me from the clutches of the ruthless’?
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And, Deliver me from the hand of an adversary? And, From the hand of terrible ones ransom me?
24 “Teach me, and I will be quiet; show me where I have been wrong.
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Shew me, and I -- I keep silent, And what I have erred, let me understand.
25 How painful are honest words! But what do your arguments prove?
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How powerful have been upright sayings, And what doth reproof from you reprove?
26 Do you mean to correct what I say, and treat my desperate words as wind?
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For reproof -- do you reckon words? And for wind -- sayings of the desperate.
27 You would even cast lots for the fatherless and barter away your friend.
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Anger on the fatherless ye cause to fall, And are strange to your friend.
28 “But now be so kind as to look at me. Would I lie to your face?
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And, now, please, look upon me, Even to your face do I lie?
29 Relent, do not be unjust; reconsider, for my integrity is at stake.
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Turn back, I pray you, let it not be perverseness, Yea, turn back again -- my righteousness [is] in it.
30 Is there any wickedness on my lips? Can my mouth not discern malice?
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Is there in my tongue perverseness? Discerneth not my palate desirable things?
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.
Young's Literal Translation is in the public domain.