English Standard Version | International Standard Version |
1Then Job answered and said: | 1In response, Job said: |
2“Keep listening to my words, and let this be your comfort. | 2"Listen carefully to my words; let this encourage all of you. |
3Bear with me, and I will speak, and after I have spoken, mock on. | 3Bear with me and let me speak! Then, after I've spoken, you'll be free to mock me. |
4As for me, is my complaint against man? Why should I not be impatient? | 4After all, isn't my complaint against a human being? If so, why shouldn't I be impatient? |
5Look at me and be appalled, and lay your hand over your mouth. | 5Look at me, be appalled, and then shut up! |
6When I remember, I am dismayed, and shuddering seizes my flesh. | 6When I think about this, I'm petrified with terror and my body shudders uncontrollably." |
7Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power? | 7"Why do the wicked live to reach old age and increase in power and wealth, too? |
8Their offspring are established in their presence, and their descendants before their eyes. | 8Their children grow up while they're alive, and they live to see their grandchildren. |
9Their houses are safe from fear, and no rod of God is upon them. | 9Their houses are safe from fear, and God's chastisement never visits them. |
10Their bull breeds without fail; their cow calves and does not miscarry. | 10Their bull breeds without fail, and their cows calve without miscarriages. |
11They send out their little boys like a flock, and their children dance. | 11They release their children to play like sheep; their young ones dance about, |
12They sing to the tambourine and the lyre and rejoice to the sound of the pipe. | 12singing with tambourines and lyres as they rejoice to the sound of flutes. |
13They spend their days in prosperity, and in peace they go down to Sheol. | 13They grow old in prosperity, as they descend peacefully into the afterlife. |
14They say to God, ‘Depart from us! We do not desire the knowledge of your ways. | 14"They say to God, 'Turn away from us! We have no desire to know your ways. |
15What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’ | 15Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? Where's the profit in talking to him?' |
16Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand? The counsel of the wicked is far from me. | 16Behold! Their prosperity isn't in their control! The counsel of the wicked will remain far from me." |
17“How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out? That their calamity comes upon them? That God distributes pains in his anger? | 17"How often do the wicked have their lights put out? Does calamity ever fall on them? Will God in his anger ever apportion their destruction? |
18That they are like straw before the wind, and like chaff that the storm carries away? | 18May they become like a straw, blown away before the wind; like a chaff that's swept off by a storm. |
19You say, ‘God stores up their iniquity for their children.’ Let him pay it out to them, that they may know it. | 19God stores up their iniquity to repay their children; making them repay so that they may be aware. |
20Let their own eyes see their destruction, and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty. | 20Their own eyes will see their destruction; and they'll drink the wrath of the Almighty. |
21For what do they care for their houses after them, when the number of their months is cut off? | 21What will they care for their household after them, when the number of his months comes to an end?" |
22Will any teach God knowledge, seeing that he judges those who are on high? | 22"Can God learn anything? After all, he will judge even the exalted ones. |
23One dies in his full vigor, being wholly at ease and secure, | 23Such persons will die in their full vigor, completely prosperous and secure. |
24his pails full of milk and the marrow of his bones moist. | 24His buckets are filled with milk, his bone marrow is healthy. |
25Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted of prosperity. | 25Others die with a bitter soul, never having tasted the good life. |
26They lie down alike in the dust, and the worms cover them. | 26They both lie down in the dust; and worms cover them." |
27“Behold, I know your thoughts and your schemes to wrong me. | 27"Look! I know your thoughts, your plans are going to harm me. |
28For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’ | 28You ask, 'Where is the noble person's house?' and 'Where are the tents where the wicked live?' |
29Have you not asked those who travel the roads, and do you not accept their testimony | 29Haven't you asked travelers on the highway? Don't you accept their word |
30that the evil man is spared in the day of calamity, that he is rescued in the day of wrath? | 30that the wicked person is spared from times of calamity, that he is rescued on the day of wrath? |
31Who declares his way to his face, and who repays him for what he has done? | 31Who will expose his conduct to his face? Who will repay him for what he has done |
32When he is carried to the grave, watch is kept over his tomb. | 32when he is carried away to the cemetery and guardians are placed to watch his tomb? |
33The clods of the valley are sweet to him; all mankind follows after him, and those who go before him are innumerable. | 33The runoff from the streams will seem sweet to him; everyone will follow after him; countless crows march ahead of him. |
34How then will you comfort me with empty nothings? There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.” | 34How then, can you console me so worthlessly? What is left of your answers is treachery." |
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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