International Standard Version | New International Version |
1"But now they mock me; men who are far younger than I, whose fathers I would have hated to entrust with my own sheep dogs. | 1"But now they mock me, men younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs. |
2Furthermore, what could I have gained from men whose strength is gone? | 2Of what use was the strength of their hands to me, since their vigor had gone from them? |
3Unproductive due to poverty and hunger, they could only scratch in parched soil, devastated and desolated. | 3Haggard from want and hunger, they roamed the parched land in desolate wastelands at night. |
4"They would pluck off herbs from salt marshes to eat; and roots of the broom shrub for food. | 4In the brush they gathered salt herbs, and their food was the root of the broom bush. |
5Driven away from human company, they were shouted at as though they were thieves. | 5They were banished from human society, shouted at as if they were thieves. |
6They lived in the most dangerous of ravines, in holes in the ground, and among rocks. | 6They were forced to live in the dry stream beds, among the rocks and in holes in the ground. |
7They bray like donkeys among the bushes and huddle together under the desert weeds. | 7They brayed among the bushes and huddled in the undergrowth. |
8Sons of fools and of uncertain reputation, they have been driven from the land by scourging." | 8A base and nameless brood, they were driven out of the land. |
9"Now, I've become the object of their mocking melodies; I'm nothing but a fool's proverb to them! | 9"And now those young men mock me in song; I have become a byword among them. |
10They abhor me—they keep their distance from me; but they don't refrain from spitting at the sight of me. | 10They detest me and keep their distance; they do not hesitate to spit in my face. |
11But God has loosened his cord and afflicted me; so they've cast off all restraints in my presence. | 11Now that God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me, they throw off restraint in my presence. |
12"A wretched crowd ambushes me to my right; they trip my feet; they build up their path of calamity for me. | 12On my right the tribe attacks; they lay snares for my feet, they build their siege ramps against me. |
13They tear up my pathways; they profit from my destruction, and they need no help to do this! | 13They break up my road; they succeed in destroying me. 'No one can help him,' they say. |
14They come like those who breach through a wall; as everything crashes around me they'll roll on and on! | 14They advance as through a gaping breach; amid the ruins they come rolling in. |
15My greatest fears have overcome me; my honor is assaulted as though by a wind storm; my prosperity evaporates like a morning cloud." | 15Terrors overwhelm me; my dignity is driven away as by the wind, my safety vanishes like a cloud. |
16"Now, my soul pours itself out; the time of my affliction has taken control of me. | 16"And now my life ebbs away; days of suffering grip me. |
17The night racks my bones; and the pain that gnaws on me will not rest. | 17Night pierces my bones; my gnawing pains never rest. |
18My clothes are disheveled by his forceful treatment of me; he restricts my movement like the collar of my cloak. | 18In his great power God becomes like clothing to me; he binds me like the neck of my garment. |
19"He tossed me into the mire; I've become like dust and ashes. | 19He throws me into the mud, and I am reduced to dust and ashes. |
20I cry for help to you, but you won't answer me; I stand still, but you only look at me. | 20"I cry out to you, God, but you do not answer; I stand up, but you merely look at me. |
21You changed toward me, and now you're cruel to me; with your mighty hand you are persecuting me; | 21You turn on me ruthlessly; with the might of your hand you attack me. |
22you carried me off in a wind storm, making me ride on it while you toss me about as the storm roars around me. | 22You snatch me up and drive me before the wind; you toss me about in the storm. |
23I know that you're about to kill me, so I'm about to go to the house that's appointed for all the living." | 23I know you will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living. |
24"Surely he won't stretch his hand against the needy, will he, especially if they cry to him in their calamity? | 24"Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man when he cries for help in his distress. |
25Haven't I wept for the one who is going through hard times? Haven't I grieved for the needy? | 25Have I not wept for those in trouble? Has not my soul grieved for the poor? |
26I have hoped for good, but evil came instead; I have hoped for light, but darkness came. | 26Yet when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, then came darkness. |
27I'm boiling mad inside, and I won't remain silent; the time for my affliction to confront me has arrived. | 27The churning inside me never stops; days of suffering confront me. |
28"In growing darkness, I walked without sunlight; I stood in the congregation to cry for help. | 28I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help. |
29I've become a brother to jackals, and a friend to ostriches. | 29I have become a brother of jackals, a companion of owls. |
30My skin turns black all over me; and my bones seem burned from the heat. | 30My skin grows black and peels; my body burns with fever. |
31But my harp is in mourning; my flute plays only songs for those who are weeping." Job Asserts His Moral Innocence | 31My lyre is tuned to mourning, and my pipe to the sound of wailing. |
The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. | New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. |
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