| English Standard Version | International Standard Version |  
 | 1Then Job answered and said: | 1In response, Job said: |   
| 2“I have heard many such things; miserable comforters are you all. | 2"I've heard many things like this. What miserable comforters you all are! |   
| 3Shall windy words have an end? Or what provokes you that you answer? | 3Will windy words like yours never end? What is upsetting you that you keep on arguing? |   
| 4I also could speak as you do, if you were in my place; I could join words together against you and shake my head at you. | 4"I could also talk like you if only you were in my place! Then I would put together an argument against you. I would shake my head at you |   
| 5I could strengthen you with my mouth, and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain. | 5and encourage you with what I have to say; my words of comfort would lessen your pain. |   
| 6“If I speak, my pain is not assuaged, and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me? | 6"But if I speak, my pain isn't assuaged; if I refrain from speaking, what do I have to lose?" |   
| 7Surely now God has worn me out; he has made desolate all my company. | 7"God has certainly worn me out; you devastated my entire world.  |   
| 8And he has shriveled me up, which is a witness against me, and my leanness has risen up against me; it testifies to my face. | 8You've arrested me, making me testify against myself! My leanness rises up to attack me, accusing me to my face. |   
| 9He has torn me in his wrath and hated me; he has gnashed his teeth at me; my adversary sharpens his eyes against me. | 9His anger tears me in his persistent resentment against me; he gnashes his teeth at me. My adversary glares at me. |   
| 10Men have gaped at me with their mouth; they have struck me insolently on the cheek; they mass themselves together against me. | 10People gaped at me with mouths wide open; they slap me in their scorn and gather together against me. |   
| 11God gives me up to the ungodly and casts me into the hands of the wicked. | 11God has delivered me over to the ungodly, throwing me into the control of the wicked. |   
| 12I was at ease, and he broke me apart; he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces; he set me up as his target; | 12"He tore me apart when I was at ease; grabbing me by my neck, he shook me to pieces— then he really made me his target. |   
| 13his archers surround me. He slashes open my kidneys and does not spare; he pours out my gall on the ground. | 13His archers surround me, slashing open my kidneys without pity; he pours out my gall on the ground. |   
| 14He breaks me with breach upon breach; he runs upon me like a warrior. | 14Attack follows attack as he breaks through my defenses! He runs over me like a mighty warrior. |   
| 15I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin and have laid my strength in the dust. | 15"I've even sewn sackcloth directly to my skin; I've buried my strength in the dust. |   
| 16My face is red with weeping, and on my eyelids is deep darkness, | 16My face is red from my tears, and dark shadows encircle my eyelids, |   
| 17although there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure. | 17even though violence is not my intention, and my prayer is pure." |   
| 18“O earth, cover not my blood, and let my cry find no resting place. | 18"Listen, earth! Don't cover my blood, for my outcry has no place to rest. |   
| 19Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and he who testifies for me is on high. | 19Even now, behold! I have a witness in heaven, my Advocate is on high. |   
| 20My friends scorn me; my eye pours out tears to God, | 20My friends mock me, while my eyes overflow with tears to God, |   
| 21that he would argue the case of a man with God, as a son of man does with his neighbor. | 21crying for him to arbitrate between this man and God; as a human being does with his fellow neighbor. |   
| 22For when a few years have come I shall go the way from which I shall not return. | 22For when only a few years have elapsed, I'll start down a path from which I'll never return." |  
 | ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers.  Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited.  All rights reserved. | The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. |  
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