| International Standard Version | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1In response, Job said: | 1Then Job answered: |
| 2"How long do you intend to keep torturing me and trying to break me by what you're saying? | 2How long will you torment me and crush me with words? |
| 3Ten times you've tried to humiliate me! You're not ashamed to wrong me! | 3You have humiliated me ten times now, and you mistreat me without shame. |
| 4Even if it's true that I've erred, my error only affects me. | 4Even if it is true that I have sinned, my mistake concerns only me. |
| 5If you really intend to vaunt yourselves over me, and make my problems the basis of your case against me, | 5If you really want to appear superior to me and would use my disgrace as evidence against me, |
| 6then at least you must know that God has accused me of wrong, and trapped me with his net." | 6then understand that it is God who has wronged me and caught me in His net. |
| 7"Although I cried out 'Violence!' I received no answer; I cried for help, but there was no justice. | 7I cry out: "Violence!" but get no response; I call for help, but there is no justice. |
| 8He blocked my path, so I cannot pass; and he turned out the lights on my pathways. | 8He has blocked my way so that I cannot pass through; He has veiled my paths with darkness. |
| 9"He has stripped me of my honor; he has stolen the crown off my head! | 9He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head. |
| 10He is breaking me down on every side, and now it's too late for me; he has uprooted my hopes like a tree. | 10He tears me down on every side so that I am ruined. He uproots my hope like a tree. |
| 11His anger burns against me; he regards me as his adversary. | 11His anger burns against me, and He regards me as one of His enemies. |
| 12His troops march in a column against me, erecting their siege ramps against me; they surround my tent." | 12His troops advance together; they construct a ramp against me and camp around my tent. |
| 13"My brothers are alienated from me; my acquaintances are estranged; | 13He has removed my brothers from me; my acquaintances have abandoned me. |
| 14my relatives have failed me; and my friends have abandoned me. | 14My relatives stop coming by, and my close friends have forgotten me. |
| 15Those who live in my house— and my maidservants, too!— treat me like a stranger; they think I'm a foreigner. | 15My house guests and female servants regard me as a stranger; I am a foreigner in their sight. |
| 16"I call to my servant, but he doesn't respond, even though I beg to him earnestly. | 16I call for my servant, but he does not answer, even if I beg him with my own mouth. |
| 17My wife says my breath stinks; even my children say I smell bad! | 17My breath is offensive to my wife, and my own family finds me repulsive. |
| 18Even little children hate me; when I get up, they mock me. | 18Even young boys scorn me. When I stand up, they mock me. |
| 19My closest friends detest me; even the ones I love have turned against me. | 19All of my best friends despise me, and those I love have turned against me. |
| 20I'm a pile of skin and bones; I have barely escaped by the skin of my teeth." | 20My skin and my flesh cling to my bones; I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. |
| 21"Be gracious to me, be gracious to me, my friends, because God's hand has struck me. | 21Have mercy on me, my friends, have mercy, for God's hand has struck me. |
| 22Why are you chasing me, as God has been doing? Aren't you satisfied that I'm sick? | 22Why do you persecute me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh? |
| 23If only my words were written down; if only they were inscribed in a book | 23I wish that my words were written down, that they were recorded on a scroll |
| 24using an iron stylus with lead for ink! Then they'd be engraved in rock forever. | 24or were inscribed in stone forever by an iron stylus and lead! |
| 25"As for me, I know that my Vindicator is alive; And he, the Last One, will take his stand on the soil. | 25But I know my living Redeemer, and He will stand on the dust at last. |
| 26Even after my skin has been destroyed, clothed in my flesh I will see God, | 26Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet I will see God in my flesh. |
| 27whom I will see for myself. My own eyes will look at him— there won't be anyone else for me!— He is the culmination of my innermost desire." | 27I will see Him myself; my eyes will look at Him, and not as a stranger. My heart longs within me. |
| 28"When you're thinking about asking yourselves, 'How will we pursue him, since the root of the problem is with him?' | 28If you say, "How will we pursue him, since the root of the problem lies with him?" |
| 29Make sure that you remain wary of God's sword, for God's wrath brings with it the sword of punishment, by which you'll know there's a judgment." | 29then be afraid of the sword, because wrath brings punishment by the sword, so that you may know there is a judgment. |
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