| NET Bible | International Standard Version |
| 1Then Job answered: | 1In response, Job said: |
| 2"Listen carefully to my words; let this be the consolation you offer me. | 2"Listen carefully to my words; let this encourage all of you. |
| 3Bear with me and I will speak, and after I have spoken you may mock. | 3Bear with me and let me speak! Then, after I've spoken, you'll be free to mock me. |
| 4Is my complaint against a man? If so, 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; put your hands over your mouths. | 5Look at me, be appalled, and then shut up! |
| 6For, when I think about this, I am terrified and my body feels a shudder. | 6When I think about this, I'm petrified with terror and my body shudders uncontrollably." |
| 7"Why do the wicked go on living, grow old, even increase in power? | 7"Why do the wicked live to reach old age and increase in power and wealth, too? |
| 8Their children are firmly established in their presence, their offspring before their eyes. | 8Their children grow up while they're alive, and they live to see their grandchildren. |
| 9Their houses are safe and without fear; and no rod of punishment from God is upon them. | 9Their houses are safe from fear, and God's chastisement never visits them. |
| 10Their bulls breed without fail; their cows calve and do not miscarry. | 10Their bull breeds without fail, and their cows calve without miscarriages. |
| 11They allow their children to run like a flock; their little ones dance about. | 11They release their children to play like sheep; their young ones dance about, |
| 12They sing to the accompaniment of tambourine and harp, and make merry to the sound of the flute. | 12singing with tambourines and lyres as they rejoice to the sound of flutes. |
| 13They live out their years in prosperity and go down to the grave in peace. | 13They grow old in prosperity, as they descend peacefully into the afterlife. |
| 14So they say to God, 'Turn away from us! We do not want to know your ways. | 14"They say to God, 'Turn away from us! We have no desire to know your ways. |
| 15Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What would we gain if we were to pray to him?' | 15Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? Where's the profit in talking to him?' |
| 16But their prosperity is not their own doing. 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 the lamp of the wicked extinguished? How often does their misfortune come upon them? How often does God apportion pain to them 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? |
| 18How often are they like straw before the wind, and like chaff swept away by a whirlwind? | 18May they become like a straw, blown away before the wind; like a chaff that's swept off by a storm. |
| 19You may say, 'God stores up a man's punishment for his children!' Instead let him repay the man himself so that he may know it! | 19God stores up their iniquity to repay their children; making them repay so that they may be aware. |
| 20Let his own eyes see his destruction; let him drink of the anger of the Almighty. | 20Their own eyes will see their destruction; and they'll drink the wrath of the Almighty. |
| 21For what is his interest in his home after his death, when the number of his months has been broken off? | 21What will they care for their household after them, when the number of his months comes to an end?" |
| 22Can anyone teach God knowledge, since he judges those that are on high? | 22"Can God learn anything? After all, he will judge even the exalted ones. |
| 23"One man dies in his full vigor, completely secure and prosperous, | 23Such persons will die in their full vigor, completely prosperous and secure. |
| 24his body well nourished, and the marrow of his bones moist. | 24His buckets are filled with milk, his bone marrow is healthy. |
| 25And another man dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted anything good. | 25Others die with a bitter soul, never having tasted the good life. |
| 26Together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover over them both. | 26They both lie down in the dust; and worms cover them." |
| 27"Yes, I know what you are thinking, the schemes by which you would wrong me. | 27"Look! I know your thoughts, your plans are going to harm me. |
| 28For you say, 'Where now is the nobleman's house, and where are the tents 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 never questioned those who travel the roads? Do you not recognize their accounts-- | 29Haven't you asked travelers on the highway? Don't you accept their word |
| 30that the evil man is spared from the day of his misfortune, that he is delivered from the day of God's wrath? | 30that the wicked person is spared from times of calamity, that he is rescued on the day of wrath? |
| 31No one denounces his conduct to his face; no one repays him for what he has done. | 31Who will expose his conduct to his face? Who will repay him for what he has done |
| 32And when he is carried to the tombs, and watch is kept over the funeral mound, | 32when he is carried away to the cemetery and guardians are placed to watch his tomb? |
| 33The clods of the torrent valley are sweet to him; behind him everybody follows in procession, and before him goes a countless throng. | 33The runoff from the streams will seem sweet to him; everyone will follow after him; countless crows march ahead of him. |
| 34So how can you console me with your futile words? Nothing is left of your answers but deception!" | 34How then, can you console me so worthlessly? What is left of your answers is treachery." |
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