| Berean Study Bible | New International Version |
| 1Then Job answered: | 1Then Job replied: |
| 2“I have heard many things like these; miserable comforters are you all. | 2"I have heard many things like these; you are miserable comforters, all of you! |
| 3Is there no end to your long-winded speeches? What provokes you to continue testifying? | 3Will your long-winded speeches never end? What ails you that you keep on arguing? |
| 4I could also speak like you if you were in my place; I could heap up words against you and shake my head at you. | 4I also could speak like you, if you were in my place; I could make fine speeches against you and shake my head at you. |
| 5But I would encourage you with my mouth, and the consolation of my lips would bring relief. | 5But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief. |
| 6Even if I speak, my pain is not relieved, and if I hold back, how will it go away? | 6"Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved; and if I refrain, it does not go away. |
| 7Surely He has now exhausted me; You have devastated all my family. | 7Surely, God, you have worn me out; you have devastated my entire household. |
| 8You have bound me, and it has become a witness; my frailty rises up and testifies against me. | 8You have shriveled me up--and it has become a witness; my gauntness rises up and testifies against me. |
| 9His anger has torn me and opposed me; He gnashes His teeth at me. My adversary pierces me with His eyes. | 9God assails me and tears me in his anger and gnashes his teeth at me; my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes. |
| 10They open their mouths against me and strike my cheeks with contempt; they join together against me. | 10People open their mouths to jeer at me; they strike my cheek in scorn and unite together against me. |
| 11God has delivered me to unjust men; He has thrown me to the clutches of the wicked. | 11God has turned me over to the ungodly and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked. |
| 12I was at ease, but He shattered me; He seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has set me up as His target; | 12All was well with me, but he shattered me; he seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has made me his target; |
| 13His archers surround me. He pierces my kidneys without mercy and spills my gall on the ground. | 13his archers surround me. Without pity, he pierces my kidneys and spills my gall on the ground. |
| 14He breaks me with wound upon wound; He rushes me like a mighty warrior. | 14Again and again he bursts upon me; he rushes at me like a warrior. |
| 15I have sewn sackcloth over my skin; I have buried my horn in the dust. | 15"I have sewed sackcloth over my skin and buried my brow in the dust. |
| 16My face is red with weeping, and deep shadows ring my eyes; | 16My face is red with weeping, dark shadows ring my eyes; |
| 17yet my hands are free of violence and my prayer is pure. | 17yet my hands have been free of violence and my prayer is pure. |
| 18O earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry for help never be laid to rest. | 18"Earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry never be laid to rest! |
| 19Even now my witness is in heaven, and my advocate is on high. | 19Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. |
| 20My friends are my scoffers as my eyes pour out tears to God. | 20My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; |
| 21Oh, that a man might plead with God as he pleads with his neighbor! | 21on behalf of a man he pleads with God as one pleads for a friend. |
| 22For when only a few years are past I will go the way of no return. | 22"Only a few years will pass before I take the path of no return. |
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