| New Living Translation | NET Bible |
| 1Then Job spoke again: | 1Then Job answered: |
| 2“Yes, I know all this is true in principle. But how can a person be declared innocent in God’s sight? | 2"Truly, I know that this is so. But how can a human be just before God? |
| 3If someone wanted to take God to court, would it be possible to answer him even once in a thousand times? | 3If someone wishes to contend with him, he cannot answer him one time in a thousand. |
| 4For God is so wise and so mighty. Who has ever challenged him successfully? | 4He is wise in heart and mighty in strength--who has resisted him and remained safe? |
| 5“Without warning, he moves the mountains, overturning them in his anger. | 5He who removes mountains suddenly, who overturns them in his anger; |
| 6He shakes the earth from its place, and its foundations tremble. | 6he who shakes the earth out of its place so that its pillars tremble; |
| 7If he commands it, the sun won’t rise and the stars won’t shine. | 7he who commands the sun and it does not shine and seals up the stars; |
| 8He alone has spread out the heavens and marches on the waves of the sea. | 8he alone spreads out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea; |
| 9He made all the stars—the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the southern sky. | 9he makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the constellations of the southern sky; |
| 10He does great things too marvelous to understand. He performs countless miracles. | 10he does great and unsearchable things, and wonderful things without number. |
| 11“Yet when he comes near, I cannot see him. When he moves by, I do not see him go. | 11If he passes by me, I cannot see him, if he goes by, I cannot perceive him. |
| 12If he snatches someone in death, who can stop him? Who dares to ask, ‘What are you doing?’ | 12If he snatches away, who can turn him back? Who dares to say to him, 'What are you doing?' |
| 13And God does not restrain his anger. Even the monsters of the sea are crushed beneath his feet. | 13God does not restrain his anger; under him the helpers of Rahab lie crushed. |
| 14“So who am I, that I should try to answer God or even reason with him? | 14"How much less, then, can I answer him and choose my words to argue with him! |
| 15Even if I were right, I would have no defense. I could only plead for mercy. | 15Although I am innocent, I could not answer him; I could only plead with my judge for mercy. |
| 16And even if I summoned him and he responded, I’m not sure he would listen to me. | 16If I summoned him, and he answered me, I would not believe that he would be listening to my voice-- |
| 17For he attacks me with a storm and repeatedly wounds me without cause. | 17he who crushes me with a tempest, and multiplies my wounds for no reason. |
| 18He will not let me catch my breath, but fills me instead with bitter sorrows. | 18He does not allow me to recover my breath, for he fills me with bitterness. |
| 19If it’s a question of strength, he’s the strong one. If it’s a matter of justice, who dares to summon him to court? | 19If it is a matter of strength, most certainly he is the strong one! And if it is a matter of justice, he will say, 'Who will summon me?' |
| 20Though I am innocent, my own mouth would pronounce me guilty. Though I am blameless, it would prove me wicked. | 20Although I am innocent, my mouth would condemn me; although I am blameless, it would declare me perverse. |
| 21“I am innocent, but it makes no difference to me— I despise my life. | 21I am blameless. I do not know myself. I despise my life. |
| 22Innocent or wicked, it is all the same to God. That’s why I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’ | 22"It is all one! That is why I say, 'He destroys the blameless and the guilty.' |
| 23When a plague sweeps through, he laughs at the death of the innocent. | 23If a scourge brings sudden death, he mocks at the despair of the innocent. |
| 24The whole earth is in the hands of the wicked, and God blinds the eyes of the judges. If he’s not the one who does it, who is? | 24If a land has been given into the hand of a wicked man, he covers the faces of its judges; if it is not he, then who is it? |
| 25“My life passes more swiftly than a runner. It flees away without a glimpse of happiness. | 25"My days are swifter than a runner, they speed by without seeing happiness. |
| 26It disappears like a swift papyrus boat, like an eagle swooping down on its prey. | 26They glide by like reed boats, like an eagle that swoops down on its prey. |
| 27If I decided to forget my complaints, to put away my sad face and be cheerful, | 27If I say, 'I will forget my complaint, I will change my expression and be cheerful,' |
| 28I would still dread all the pain, for I know you will not find me innocent, O God. | 28I dread all my sufferings, for I know that you do not hold me blameless. |
| 29Whatever happens, I will be found guilty. So what’s the use of trying? | 29If I am guilty, why then weary myself in vain? |
| 30Even if I were to wash myself with soap and clean my hands with lye, | 30If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands clean with lye, |
| 31you would plunge me into a muddy ditch, and my own filthy clothing would hate me. | 31then you plunge me into a slimy pit and my own clothes abhor me. |
| 32“God is not a mortal like me, so I cannot argue with him or take him to trial. | 32For he is not a human being like I am, that I might answer him, that we might come together in judgment. |
| 33If only there were a mediator between us, someone who could bring us together. | 33Nor is there an arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both, |
| 34The mediator could make God stop beating me, and I would no longer live in terror of his punishment. | 34who would take his rod away from me so that his terror would not make me afraid. |
| 35Then I could speak to him without fear, but I cannot do that in my own strength. | 35Then would I speak and not fear him, but it is not so with me. |
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