| Holman Christian Standard Bible | English Standard Version |
| 1Then Job answered: | 1Then Job answered and said: |
| 2Yes, I know what you've said is true, but how can a person be justified before God? | 2“Truly I know that it is so: But how can a man be in the right before God? |
| 3If one wanted to take Him to court, he could not answer God once in a thousand times. | 3If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times. |
| 4God is wise and all-powerful. Who has opposed Him and come out unharmed? | 4He is wise in heart and mighty in strength—who has hardened himself against him, and succeeded?— |
| 5He removes mountains without their knowledge, overturning them in His anger. | 5he who removes mountains, and they know it not, when he overturns them in his anger, |
| 6He shakes the earth from its place so that its pillars tremble. | 6who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble; |
| 7He commands the sun not to shine and seals off the stars. | 7who commands the sun, and it does not rise; who seals up the stars; |
| 8He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea. | 8who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea; |
| 9He makes the stars: the Bear, Orion, the Pleiades, and the constellations of the southern sky. | 9who made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the chambers of the south; |
| 10He does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number. | 10who does great things beyond searching out, and marvelous things beyond number. |
| 11If He passes by me, I wouldn't see Him; if He goes right by, I wouldn't recognize Him. | 11Behold, he passes by me, and I see him not; he moves on, but I do not perceive him. |
| 12If He snatches something, who can stop Him? Who can ask Him, "What are You doing?" | 12Behold, he snatches away; who can turn him back? Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’ |
| 13God does not hold back His anger; Rahab's assistants cringe in fear beneath Him! | 13“God will not turn back his anger; beneath him bowed the helpers of Rahab. |
| 14How then can I answer Him or choose my arguments against Him? | 14How then can I answer him, choosing my words with him? |
| 15Even if I were in the right, I could not answer. I could only beg my Judge for mercy. | 15Though I am in the right, I cannot answer him; I must appeal for mercy to my accuser. |
| 16If I summoned Him and He answered me, I do not believe He would pay attention to what I said. | 16If I summoned him and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice. |
| 17He batters me with a whirlwind and multiplies my wounds without cause. | 17For he crushes me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause; |
| 18He doesn't let me catch my breath but soaks me with bitter experiences. | 18he will not let me get my breath, but fills me with bitterness. |
| 19If it is a matter of strength, look, He is the Mighty One! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon Him? | 19If it is a contest of strength, behold, he is mighty! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him? |
| 20Even if I were in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, my mouth would declare me guilty. | 20Though I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse. |
| 21Though I am blameless, I no longer care about myself; I renounce my life. | 21I am blameless; I regard not myself; I loathe my life. |
| 22It is all the same. Therefore I say, "He destroys both the blameless and the wicked." | 22It is all one; therefore I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’ |
| 23When disaster brings sudden death, He mocks the despair of the innocent. | 23When disaster brings sudden death, he mocks at the calamity of the innocent. |
| 24The earth is handed over to the wicked; He blindfolds its judges. If it isn't He, then who is it? | 24The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he covers the faces of its judges— if it is not he, who then is it? |
| 25My days fly by faster than a runner; they flee without seeing any good. | 25“My days are swifter than a runner; they flee away; they see no good. |
| 26They sweep by like boats made of papyrus, like an eagle swooping down on its prey. | 26They go by like skiffs of reed, like an eagle swooping on the prey. |
| 27If I said, "I will forget my complaint, change my expression, and smile," | 27If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face, and be of good cheer,’ |
| 28I would still live in terror of all my pains. I know You will not acquit me. | 28I become afraid of all my suffering, for I know you will not hold me innocent. |
| 29Since I will be found guilty, why should I labor in vain? | 29I shall be condemned; why then do I labor in vain? |
| 30If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with lye, | 30If I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye, |
| 31then You dip me in a pit of mud, and my own clothes despise me! | 31yet you will plunge me into a pit, and my own clothes will abhor me. |
| 32For He is not a man like me, that I can answer Him, that we can take each other to court. | 32For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together. |
| 33There is no one to judge between us, to lay his hand on both of us. | 33There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both. |
| 34Let Him take His rod away from me so His terror will no longer frighten me. | 34Let him take his rod away from me, and let not dread of him terrify me. |
| 35Then I would speak and not fear Him. But that is not the case; I am on my own. | 35Then I would speak without fear of him, for I am not so in myself. |
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