New International Version | New Living Translation |
1Then Job replied: | 1Then Job spoke again: |
2"Listen carefully to my words; let this be the consolation you give me. | 2“Listen closely to what I am saying. That’s one consolation you can give me. |
3Bear with me while I speak, and after I have spoken, mock on. | 3Bear with me, and let me speak. After I have spoken, you may resume mocking me. |
4"Is my complaint directed to a human being? Why should I not be impatient? | 4“My complaint is with God, not with people. I have good reason to be so impatient. |
5Look at me and be appalled; clap your hand over your mouth. | 5Look at me and be stunned. Put your hand over your mouth in shock. |
6When I think about this, I am terrified; trembling seizes my body. | 6When I think about what I am saying, I shudder. My body trembles. |
7Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power? | 7“Why do the wicked prosper, growing old and powerful? |
8They see their children established around them, their offspring before their eyes. | 8They live to see their children grow up and settle down, and they enjoy their grandchildren. |
9Their homes are safe and free from fear; the rod of God is not on them. | 9Their homes are safe from every fear, and God does not punish them. |
10Their bulls never fail to breed; their cows calve and do not miscarry. | 10Their bulls never fail to breed. Their cows bear calves and never miscarry. |
11They send forth their children as a flock; their little ones dance about. | 11They let their children frisk about like lambs. Their little ones skip and dance. |
12They sing to the music of timbrel and lyre; they make merry to the sound of the pipe. | 12They sing with tambourine and harp. They celebrate to the sound of the flute. |
13They spend their years in prosperity and go down to the grave in peace. | 13They spend their days in prosperity, then go down to the grave in peace. |
14Yet they say to God, 'Leave us alone! We have no desire to know your ways. | 14And yet they say to God, ‘Go away. We want no part of you and your ways. |
15Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What would we gain by praying to him?' | 15Who is the Almighty, and why should we obey him? What good will it do us to pray?’ |
16But their prosperity is not in their own hands, so I stand aloof from the plans of the wicked. | 16(They think their prosperity is of their own doing, but I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking.) |
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“Yet the light of the wicked never seems to be extinguished. Do they ever have trouble? Does God distribute sorrows to them in anger? |
18How often are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a gale? | 18Are they driven before the wind like straw? Are they carried away by the storm like chaff? Not at all! |
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! | 19“‘Well,’ you say, ‘at least God will punish their children!’ But I say he should punish the ones who sin, so that they understand his judgment. |
20Let their own eyes see their destruction; let them drink the cup of the wrath of the Almighty. | 20Let them see their destruction with their own eyes. Let them drink deeply of the anger of the Almighty. |
21For what do they care about the families they leave behind when their allotted months come to an end? | 21For they will not care what happens to their family after they are dead. |
22"Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since he judges even the highest? | 22“But who can teach a lesson to God, since he judges even the most powerful? |
23One person dies in full vigor, completely secure and at ease, | 23One person dies in prosperity, completely comfortable and secure, |
24well nourished in body, bones rich with marrow. | 24the picture of good health, vigorous and fit. |
25Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having enjoyed anything good. | 25Another person dies in bitter poverty, never having tasted the good life. |
26Side by side they lie in the dust, and worms cover them both. | 26But both are buried in the same dust, both eaten by the same maggots. |
27"I know full well what you are thinking, the schemes by which you would wrong me. | 27“Look, I know what you’re thinking. I know the schemes you plot against me. |
28You say, 'Where now is the house of the great, the tents where the wicked lived?' | 28You will tell me of rich and wicked people whose houses have vanished because of their sins. |
29Have you never questioned those who travel? Have you paid no regard to their accounts-- | 29But ask those who have been around, and they will tell you the truth. |
30that the wicked are spared from the day of calamity, that they are delivered from the day of wrath? | 30Evil people are spared in times of calamity and are allowed to escape disaster. |
31Who denounces their conduct to their face? Who repays them for what they have done? | 31No one criticizes them openly or pays them back for what they have done. |
32They are carried to the grave, and watch is kept over their tombs. | 32When they are carried to the grave, an honor guard keeps watch at their tomb. |
33The soil in the valley is sweet to them; everyone follows after them, and a countless throng goes before them. | 33A great funeral procession goes to the cemetery. Many pay their respects as the body is laid to rest, and the earth gives sweet repose. |
34"So how can you console me with your nonsense? Nothing is left of your answers but falsehood!" | 34“How can your empty clichés comfort me? All your explanations are lies!” |
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. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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