English Standard Version

International Standard Version

1Then Job answered and said:

1In response, Job said:

2“Keep listening to my words, and let this be your comfort.

2"Listen carefully to my words; let this encourage all of you.

3Bear with me, and I will speak, and after I have spoken, mock on.

3Bear with me and let me speak! Then, after I've spoken, you'll be free to mock me.

4As for me, is my complaint against man? 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, and lay your hand over your mouth.

5Look at me, be appalled, and then shut up!

6When I remember, I am dismayed, and shuddering seizes my flesh.

6When I think about this, I'm petrified with terror and my body shudders uncontrollably."

7Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power?

7"Why do the wicked live to reach old age and increase in power and wealth, too?

8Their offspring are established in their presence, and their descendants before their eyes.

8Their children grow up while they're alive, and they live to see their grandchildren.

9Their houses are safe from fear, and no rod of God is upon them.

9Their houses are safe from fear, and God's chastisement never visits them.

10Their bull breeds without fail; their cow calves and does not miscarry.

10Their bull breeds without fail, and their cows calve without miscarriages.

11They send out their little boys like a flock, and their children dance.

11They release their children to play like sheep; their young ones dance about,

12They sing to the tambourine and the lyre and rejoice to the sound of the pipe.

12singing with tambourines and lyres as they rejoice to the sound of flutes.

13They spend their days in prosperity, and in peace they go down to Sheol.

13They grow old in prosperity, as they descend peacefully into the afterlife.

14They say to God, ‘Depart from us! We do not desire the knowledge of your ways.

14"They say to God, 'Turn away from us! We have no desire to know your ways.

15What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’

15Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? Where's the profit in talking to him?'

16Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand? 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 it that the lamp of the wicked is put out? That their calamity comes upon them? That God distributes pains 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?

18That they are like straw before the wind, and like chaff that the storm carries away?

18May they become like a straw, blown away before the wind; like a chaff that's swept off by a storm.

19You say, ‘God stores up their iniquity for their children.’ Let him pay it out to them, that they may know it.

19God stores up their iniquity to repay their children; making them repay so that they may be aware.

20Let their own eyes see their destruction, and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

20Their own eyes will see their destruction; and they'll drink the wrath of the Almighty.

21For what do they care for their houses after them, when the number of their months is cut off?

21What will they care for their household after them, when the number of his months comes to an end?"

22Will any teach God knowledge, seeing that he judges those who are on high?

22"Can God learn anything? After all, he will judge even the exalted ones.

23One dies in his full vigor, being wholly at ease and secure,

23Such persons will die in their full vigor, completely prosperous and secure.

24his pails full of milk and the marrow of his bones moist.

24His buckets are filled with milk, his bone marrow is healthy.

25Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted of prosperity.

25Others die with a bitter soul, never having tasted the good life.

26They lie down alike in the dust, and the worms cover them.

26They both lie down in the dust; and worms cover them."

27“Behold, I know your thoughts and your schemes to wrong me.

27"Look! I know your thoughts, your plans are going to harm me.

28For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent 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 not asked those who travel the roads, and do you not accept their testimony

29Haven't you asked travelers on the highway? Don't you accept their word

30that the evil man is spared in the day of calamity, that he is rescued in the day of wrath?

30that the wicked person is spared from times of calamity, that he is rescued on the day of wrath?

31Who declares his way to his face, and who repays him for what he has done?

31Who will expose his conduct to his face? Who will repay him for what he has done

32When he is carried to the grave, watch is kept over his tomb.

32when he is carried away to the cemetery and guardians are placed to watch his tomb?

33The clods of the valley are sweet to him; all mankind follows after him, and those who go before him are innumerable.

33The runoff from the streams will seem sweet to him; everyone will follow after him; countless crows march ahead of him.

34How then will you comfort me with empty nothings? There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.”

34How then, can you console me so worthlessly? What is left of your answers is treachery."

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.

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