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New King James Version

Job

Then Job replied:

1

Job Reproaches His Pitiless Friends

Then Job answered and said:

2

“I have heard many things like these;
you are miserable comforters, all of you!

2

“I have heard many such things;
Miserable[a] comforters are you all!

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Will your long-winded speeches never end?
What ails you that you keep on arguing?

3

Shall [b]words of wind have an end?
Or what provokes you that you answer?

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I also could speak like you,
if you were in my place;
I could make fine speeches against you
and shake my head at you.

4

I also could speak as you do,
If your soul were in my soul’s place.
I could heap up words against you,
And shake my head at you;

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But my mouth would encourage you;
comfort from my lips would bring you relief.

5

But I would strengthen you with my mouth,
And the comfort of my lips would relieve your grief.

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“Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved;
and if I refrain, it does not go away.

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“Though I speak, my grief is not relieved;
And if I remain silent, how am I eased?

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Surely, God, you have worn me out;
you have devastated my entire household.

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But now He has worn me out;
You have made desolate all my company.

8

You have shriveled me up — and it has become a witness;
my gauntness rises up and testifies against me.

8

You have shriveled me up,
And it is a witness against me;
My leanness rises up against me
And bears witness to my face.

9

God assails me and tears me in his anger
and gnashes his teeth at me;
my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes.

9

He tears me in His wrath, and hates me;
He gnashes at me with His teeth;
My adversary sharpens His gaze on me.

10

People open their mouths to jeer at me;
they strike my cheek in scorn
and unite together against me.

10

They gape at me with their mouth,
They strike me reproachfully on the cheek,
They gather together against me.

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God has turned me over to the ungodly
and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked.

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God has delivered me to the ungodly,
And turned me over to the hands of the wicked.

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All was well with me, but he shattered me;
he seized me by the neck and crushed me.
He has made me his target;

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I was at ease, but He has shattered me;
He also has taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces;
He has set me up for His target,

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his archers surround me.
Without pity, he pierces my kidneys
and spills my gall on the ground.

13

His archers surround me.
He pierces my [c]heart and does not pity;
He pours out my gall on the ground.

14

Again and again he bursts upon me;
he rushes at me like a warrior.

14

He breaks me with wound upon wound;
He runs at me like a [d]warrior.

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“I have sewed sackcloth over my skin
and buried my brow in the dust.

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“I have sewn sackcloth over my skin,
And laid my [e]head in the dust.

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My face is red with weeping,
dark shadows ring my eyes;

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My face is [f]flushed from weeping,
And on my eyelids is the shadow of death;

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yet my hands have been free of violence
and my prayer is pure.

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Although no violence is in my hands,
And my prayer is pure.

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“Earth, do not cover my blood;
may my cry never be laid to rest!

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“O earth, do not cover my blood,
And let my cry have no resting place!

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Even now my witness is in heaven;
my advocate is on high.

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Surely even now my witness is in heaven,
And my evidence is on high.

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My intercessor is my frienda
as my eyes pour out tears to God;

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My friends scorn me;
My eyes pour out tears to God.

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on behalf of a man he pleads with God
as one pleads for a friend.

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Oh, that one might plead for a man with God,
As a man pleads for his [g]neighbor!

22

“Only a few years will pass
before I take the path of no return.

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For when a few years are finished,
I shall go the way of no return.

Parallel

New International Version

New King James Version

Job 16

Job 16