1 ARST Then Job replied to Eliphaz and the others. He said, BSB BSB: Then Job answered:
2 ARST “I have heard many things like that before. All of you, instead of helping me, are only causing me to feel more miserable. BSB BSB: “I have heard many things like these; miserable comforters are you all.
3 ARST I wish that you would stop saying these things that are not helping me. Eliphaz, I do not understand why you feel that you must keep replying to me. BSB BSB: Is there no end to your long-winded speeches? What provokes you to continue testifying?
4 ARST I could say the same things that you are saying if you were the ones suffering instead of me. I could make great speeches to criticize you, and I could shake my head at you{ to ridicule you}. BSB BSB: I could also speak like you if you were in my place; I could heap up words against you and shake my head at you.
5 ARST I would think that I was encouraging you by what I said. Yes, I would think that I was relieving you by speaking with you BSB BSB: But I would encourage you with my mouth, and the consolation of my lips would bring relief.
6 ARST But as it is, if I talk, I continue to suffer just as much, and if I do not talk, that does not reduce my suffering either. BSB BSB: Even if I speak, my pain is not relieved, and if I hold back, how will it go away?
7 ARST But now{ I will speak to God}. God, you have taken away all my strength, and you have killed all of my children. BSB BSB: Surely He has now exhausted me; You have devastated all my family.
8 ARST You have made me sick, and I have lost a lot of weight, and people think that shows that I am a sinner. They see how thin I am, and they think that proves that I am guilty. BSB BSB: You have bound me, and it has become a witness; my frailty rises up and testifies against me.
9 ARST God is so angry with me that he has attacked me and hurt me. Now he is moving his teeth back and forth because he is still so angry with me. He is watching me closely{ to see how he can attack me again}. BSB BSB: His anger has torn me and opposed me; He gnashes His teeth at me. My adversary pierces me with His eyes.
10 ARST People look at me with their mouths wide open in order to humiliate me. They hit me in the face because they think I have done wrong. They crowd around me to threaten me. BSB BSB: They open their mouths against me and strike my cheeks with contempt; they join together against me.
11 ARST God has allowed people who do not honor him to mistreat me. He has allowed wicked people to do whatever they want to me. BSB BSB: God has delivered me to unjust men; He has thrown me to the clutches of the wicked.
12 ARST Previously, I was living peacefully, but then God caused great trouble for me. It is as if he grabbed my neck and shook me to pieces. It is as if he set me up as a target BSB BSB: I was at ease, but He shattered me; He seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has set me up as His target;
13 ARST and people were surrounding me and shooting arrows at me. It is as if those arrows cut open my kidneys and caused the gall from my liver to spill onto the ground. God is not having any mercy on me at all! BSB BSB: His archers surround me. He pierces my kidneys without mercy and spills my gall on the ground.
14 ARST It is as if I were a wall that God was breaking down in many places. It is as if God were rushing at me like a soldier who was attacking his enemy. BSB BSB: He breaks me with wound upon wound; He rushes me like a mighty warrior.
15 ARST { I am grieving so deeply that} it is as if I have sewn rough mourning cloth right onto my skin! I feel weak and humiliated. BSB BSB: I have sewn sackcloth over my skin; I have buried my horn in the dust.
16 ARST My face is red because I have cried so much. I have dark circles around my eyes because I have not been sleeping well. BSB BSB: My face is red with weeping, and deep shadows ring my eyes;
17 ARST All this has happened to me even though I have not violently harmed anyone and even though I pray sincerely to God. BSB BSB: yet my hands are free of violence and my prayer is pure.
18 ARST I feel as if I am the victim of a violent crime, and I want people to show concern about what has happened to me. I do not want anyone to stop me while I am demanding that God act justly toward me. BSB BSB: O earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry for help never be laid to rest.
19 ARST But even now, I know that there is someone in heaven who will testify for me. He will confirm that what I have done is right. BSB BSB: Even now my witness is in heaven, and my advocate is on high.
20 ARST This person in heaven is my friend, and he will plead with God for me.{ At the same time, I will also plead with God so earnestly} that I will weep. BSB BSB: My friends are my scoffers as my eyes pour out tears to God.
21 ARST My friend will plead with God for me in heaven the same way one person pleads for another person here on earth. BSB BSB: Oh, that a man might plead with God as he pleads with his neighbor!
22 ARST { I want God to treat me justly now, while there is still time,} because within a few years I will die. BSB BSB: For when only a few years are past I will go the way of no return.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.