| New International Version | English Standard Version |
| 1Then Job replied: | 1Then Job answered and said: |
| 2"Listen carefully to my words; let this be the consolation you give me. | 2“Keep listening to my words, and let this be your comfort. |
| 3Bear with me while I speak, and after I have spoken, mock on. | 3Bear with me, and I will speak, and after I have spoken, mock on. |
| 4"Is my complaint directed to a human being? Why should I not be impatient? | 4As for me, is my complaint against man? Why should I not be impatient? |
| 5Look at me and be appalled; clap your hand over your mouth. | 5Look at me and be appalled, and lay your hand over your mouth. |
| 6When I think about this, I am terrified; trembling seizes my body. | 6When I remember, I am dismayed, and shuddering seizes my flesh. |
| 7Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power? | 7Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power? |
| 8They see their children established around them, their offspring before their eyes. | 8Their offspring are established in their presence, and their descendants before their eyes. |
| 9Their homes are safe and free from fear; the rod of God is not on them. | 9Their houses are safe from fear, and no rod of God is upon them. |
| 10Their bulls never fail to breed; their cows calve and do not miscarry. | 10Their bull breeds without fail; their cow calves and does not miscarry. |
| 11They send forth their children as a flock; their little ones dance about. | 11They send out their little boys like a flock, and their children dance. |
| 12They sing to the music of timbrel and lyre; they make merry to the sound of the pipe. | 12They sing to the tambourine and the lyre and rejoice to the sound of the pipe. |
| 13They spend their years in prosperity and go down to the grave in peace. | 13They spend their days in prosperity, and in peace they go down to Sheol. |
| 14Yet they say to God, 'Leave us alone! We have no desire to know your ways. | 14They say to God, ‘Depart from us! We do not desire the knowledge of your ways. |
| 15Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What would we gain by praying to him?' | 15What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’ |
| 16But their prosperity is not in their own hands, so I stand aloof from the plans of the wicked. | 16Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand? The counsel of the wicked is far from me. |
| 17"Yet how often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out? How often does calamity come upon them, the fate God allots in his anger? | 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? |
| 18How often are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a gale? | 18That they are like straw before the wind, and like chaff that the storm carries away? |
| 19It is said, 'God stores up the punishment of the wicked for their children.' Let him repay the wicked, so that they themselves will experience it! | 19You say, ‘God stores up their iniquity for their children.’ Let him pay it out to them, that they may know it. |
| 20Let their own eyes see their destruction; let them drink the cup of the wrath of the Almighty. | 20Let their own eyes see their destruction, and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty. |
| 21For what do they care about the families they leave behind when their allotted months come to an end? | 21For what do they care for their houses after them, when the number of their months is cut off? |
| 22"Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since he judges even the highest? | 22Will any teach God knowledge, seeing that he judges those who are on high? |
| 23One person dies in full vigor, completely secure and at ease, | 23One dies in his full vigor, being wholly at ease and secure, |
| 24well nourished in body, bones rich with marrow. | 24his pails full of milk and the marrow of his bones moist. |
| 25Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having enjoyed anything good. | 25Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted of prosperity. |
| 26Side by side they lie in the dust, and worms cover them both. | 26They lie down alike in the dust, and the worms cover them. |
| 27"I know full well what you are thinking, the schemes by which you would wrong me. | 27“Behold, I know your thoughts and your schemes to wrong me. |
| 28You say, 'Where now is the house of the great, the tents where the wicked lived?' | 28For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’ |
| 29Have you never questioned those who travel? Have you paid no regard to their accounts-- | 29Have you not asked those who travel the roads, and do you not accept their testimony |
| 30that the wicked are spared from the day of calamity, that they are delivered from the day of wrath? | 30that the evil man is spared in the day of calamity, that he is rescued in the day of wrath? |
| 31Who denounces their conduct to their face? Who repays them for what they have done? | 31Who declares his way to his face, and who repays him for what he has done? |
| 32They are carried to the grave, and watch is kept over their tombs. | 32When he is carried to the grave, watch is kept over his tomb. |
| 33The soil in the valley is sweet to them; everyone follows after them, and a countless throng goes before them. | 33The clods of the valley are sweet to him; all mankind follows after him, and those who go before him are innumerable. |
| 34"So how can you console me with your nonsense? Nothing is left of your answers but falsehood!" | 34How then will you comfort me with empty nothings? There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.” |
| 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. | 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. |
|
