| King James Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1Then Job answered and said, | 1Then Job spoke again: |
| 2I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all. | 2“I have heard all this before. What miserable comforters you are! |
| 3Shall vain words have an end? or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest? | 3Won’t you ever stop blowing hot air? What makes you keep on talking? |
| 4I also could speak as ye do: if your soul were in my soul's stead, I could heap up words against you, and shake mine head at you. | 4I could say the same things if you were in my place. I could spout off criticism and shake my head at you. |
| 5But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should asswage your grief. | 5But if it were me, I would encourage you. I would try to take away your grief. |
| 6Though I speak, my grief is not asswaged: and though I forbear, what am I eased? | 6Instead, I suffer if I defend myself, and I suffer no less if I refuse to speak. |
| 7But now he hath made me weary: thou hast made desolate all my company. | 7“O God, you have ground me down and devastated my family. |
| 8And thou hast filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me: and my leanness rising up in me beareth witness to my face. | 8As if to prove I have sinned, you’ve reduced me to skin and bones. My gaunt flesh testifies against me. |
| 9He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me: he gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me. | 9God hates me and angrily tears me apart. He snaps his teeth at me and pierces me with his eyes. |
| 10They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against me. | 10People jeer and laugh at me. They slap my cheek in contempt. A mob gathers against me. |
| 11God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked. | 11God has handed me over to sinners. He has tossed me into the hands of the wicked. |
| 12I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder: he hath also taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark. | 12“I was living quietly until he shattered me. He took me by the neck and broke me in pieces. Then he set me up as his target, |
| 13His archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground. | 13and now his archers surround me. His arrows pierce me without mercy. The ground is wet with my blood. |
| 14He breaketh me with breach upon breach, he runneth upon me like a giant. | 14Again and again he smashes against me, charging at me like a warrior. |
| 15I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and defiled my horn in the dust. | 15I wear burlap to show my grief. My pride lies in the dust. |
| 16My face is foul with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death; | 16My eyes are red with weeping; dark shadows circle my eyes. |
| 17Not for any injustice in mine hands: also my prayer is pure. | 17Yet I have done no wrong, and my prayer is pure. |
| 18O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place. | 18“O earth, do not conceal my blood. Let it cry out on my behalf. |
| 19Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high. | 19Even now my witness is in heaven. My advocate is there on high. |
| 20My friends scorn me: but mine eye poureth out tears unto God. | 20My friends scorn me, but I pour out my tears to God. |
| 21O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour! | 21I need someone to mediate between God and me, as a person mediates between friends. |
| 22When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return. | 22For soon I must go down that road from which I will never return. |
| King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com. | 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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