| Holman Christian Standard Bible | International Standard Version |
| 1Then Job answered: | 1In response, Job said: |
| 2How long will you torment me and crush me with words? | 2"How long do you intend to keep torturing me and trying to break me by what you're saying? |
| 3You have humiliated me ten times now, and you mistreat me without shame. | 3Ten times you've tried to humiliate me! You're not ashamed to wrong me! |
| 4Even if it is true that I have sinned, my mistake concerns only me. | 4Even if it's true that I've erred, my error only affects me. |
| 5If you really want to appear superior to me and would use my disgrace as evidence against me, | 5If you really intend to vaunt yourselves over me, and make my problems the basis of your case against me, |
| 6then understand that it is God who has wronged me and caught me in His net. | 6then at least you must know that God has accused me of wrong, and trapped me with his net." |
| 7I cry out: "Violence!" but get no response; I call for help, but there is no justice. | 7"Although I cried out 'Violence!' I received no answer; I cried for help, but there was no justice. |
| 8He has blocked my way so that I cannot pass through; He has veiled my paths with darkness. | 8He blocked my path, so I cannot pass; and he turned out the lights on my pathways. |
| 9He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head. | 9"He has stripped me of my honor; he has stolen the crown off my head! |
| 10He tears me down on every side so that I am ruined. He uproots my hope like a tree. | 10He is breaking me down on every side, and now it's too late for me; he has uprooted my hopes like a tree. |
| 11His anger burns against me, and He regards me as one of His enemies. | 11His anger burns against me; he regards me as his adversary. |
| 12His troops advance together; they construct a ramp against me and camp around my tent. | 12His troops march in a column against me, erecting their siege ramps against me; they surround my tent." |
| 13He has removed my brothers from me; my acquaintances have abandoned me. | 13"My brothers are alienated from me; my acquaintances are estranged; |
| 14My relatives stop coming by, and my close friends have forgotten me. | 14my relatives have failed me; and my friends have abandoned me. |
| 15My house guests and female servants regard me as a stranger; I am a foreigner in their sight. | 15Those who live in my house— and my maidservants, too!— treat me like a stranger; they think I'm a foreigner. |
| 16I call for my servant, but he does not answer, even if I beg him with my own mouth. | 16"I call to my servant, but he doesn't respond, even though I beg to him earnestly. |
| 17My breath is offensive to my wife, and my own family finds me repulsive. | 17My wife says my breath stinks; even my children say I smell bad! |
| 18Even young boys scorn me. When I stand up, they mock me. | 18Even little children hate me; when I get up, they mock me. |
| 19All of my best friends despise me, and those I love have turned against me. | 19My closest friends detest me; even the ones I love have turned against me. |
| 20My skin and my flesh cling to my bones; I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. | 20I'm a pile of skin and bones; I have barely escaped by the skin of my teeth." |
| 21Have mercy on me, my friends, have mercy, for God's hand has struck me. | 21"Be gracious to me, be gracious to me, my friends, because God's hand has struck me. |
| 22Why do you persecute me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh? | 22Why are you chasing me, as God has been doing? Aren't you satisfied that I'm sick? |
| 23I wish that my words were written down, that they were recorded on a scroll | 23If only my words were written down; if only they were inscribed in a book |
| 24or were inscribed in stone forever by an iron stylus and lead! | 24using an iron stylus with lead for ink! Then they'd be engraved in rock forever. |
| 25But I know my living Redeemer, and He will stand on the dust at last. | 25"As for me, I know that my Vindicator is alive; And he, the Last One, will take his stand on the soil. |
| 26Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet I will see God in my flesh. | 26Even after my skin has been destroyed, clothed in my flesh I will see God, |
| 27I will see Him myself; my eyes will look at Him, and not as a stranger. My heart longs within me. | 27whom I will see for myself. My own eyes will look at him— there won't be anyone else for me!— He is the culmination of my innermost desire." |
| 28If you say, "How will we pursue him, since the root of the problem lies with him?" | 28"When you're thinking about asking yourselves, 'How will we pursue him, since the root of the problem is with him?' |
| 29then be afraid of the sword, because wrath brings punishment by the sword, so that you may know there is a judgment. | 29Make sure that you remain wary of God's sword, for God's wrath brings with it the sword of punishment, by which you'll know there's a judgment." |
|
