1 ARST Then Job replied to Bildad and the others. He said, BSB BSB: Then Job answered:
2 ARST “The three of you must stop hurting me and discouraging me by saying that I am wicked! BSB BSB: “How long will you torment me and crush me with your words?
3 ARST You have insulted me repeatedly. You should be ashamed for speaking so harshly to me! BSB BSB: Ten times now you have reproached me; you shamelessly mistreat me.
4 ARST Even if it were true that I had done wrong, that would be my concern, not yours! BSB BSB: Even if I have truly gone astray, my error concerns me alone.
5 ARST If you truly think that you are better than I am, and if you are claiming that I must be guilty because I am suffering, BSB BSB: If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me and use my disgrace against me,
6 ARST you should realize that it is God who has caused me to suffer. It is as if he had a net and caught me in it, like an animal he wanted to trap. BSB BSB: then understand that it is God who has wronged me and drawn His net around me.
7 ARST Listen to me: I protest that God is punishing me unfairly, but no one agrees with me. I cry for help, but no one, not even God, treats me fairly. BSB BSB: Though I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.
8 ARST It is as if God has blocked my road so that I can not go anywhere. It is as if God has forced me to try to find my way in total darkness. BSB BSB: He has blocked my way so I cannot pass; He has veiled my paths with darkness.
9 ARST He has taken away my good reputation. It is as if he has taken a crown of authority off my head. BSB BSB: He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head.
10 ARST He is ruining everything that I have. I no longer hope to experience good things in this life. I expect that I will soon die, as if I were a tree that he had pulled completely out of the ground. BSB BSB: He tears me down on every side until I am gone; He uproots my hope like a tree.
11 ARST He attacks me because he is very angry with me. He treats me as if I were his enemy. BSB BSB: His anger burns against me, and He counts me among His enemies.
12 ARST It is as if he were sending an army against me that has surrounded me and is getting ready to destroy me. BSB BSB: His troops advance together; they construct a ramp against me and encamp around my tent.
13 ARST God has caused my family to abandon me. Those who know me now act like strangers toward me. BSB BSB: He has removed my brothers from me; my acquaintances have abandoned me.
14 ARST My relatives have left me and my good friends ignore me. BSB BSB: My kinsmen have failed me, and my friends have forgotten me.
15 ARST People who were guests in my house and even my female servants act as if they do not recognize me. They treat me like a foreigner whom they do not know. BSB BSB: My guests and maidservants count me as a stranger; I am a foreigner in their sight.
16 ARST When I order my servants to come, they do not obey. I have to beg my servants to help me. BSB BSB: I call for my servant, but he does not answer, though I implore him with my own mouth.
17 ARST My wife stays away from me, even though I was a good father to our children. BSB BSB: My breath is repulsive to my wife, and I am loathsome to my own family.
18 ARST Even young children disrespect me. When I stand up to talk, they laugh at me. BSB BSB: Even little boys scorn me; when I appear, they deride me.
19 ARST All of my intimate friends now detest me. The people I love are hostile to me. BSB BSB: All my best friends despise me, and those I love have turned against me.
20 ARST I have become so thin that my bones are visible beneath my skin; I am barely alive. BSB BSB: My skin and flesh cling to my bones; I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21 ARST I plead with you, my three friends, pity me because God is making me suffer greatly. BSB BSB: Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me.
22 ARST You should not be making me suffer as well, as if you were God and had to punish sin. You seem to think that you need to keep accusing me of doing things wrong! BSB BSB: Why do you persecute me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh?
23 ARST I wish that someone would now write what I have been saying in a book{ so that people could read it}. BSB BSB: I wish that my words were recorded and inscribed in a book,
24 ARST { Or else,} I wish that someone would carve what I have said onto a rock with a chisel and highlight it with lead so that people could always read it. BSB BSB: by an iron stylus on lead, or chiseled in stone forever.
25 ARST But I know that there is someone who will defend me and that some day he will appear here on the earth and declare me innocent. BSB BSB: But I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the end He will stand upon the earth.
26 ARST Even after I die and people bury me and my body decays, still, in my body I will see God. BSB BSB: Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.
27 ARST I will see him myself! Yes, I will see him personally! My emotions overwhelm me as I think about that! BSB BSB: I will see Him for myself; my eyes will behold Him, and not as a stranger. How my heart yearns within me!
28 ARST But if you three men still think that you need to accuse me of doing wrong because you believe I am responsible for the sufferings I am experiencing, BSB BSB: If you say, ‘Let us persecute him, since the root of the matter lies with him,’
29 ARST then you should fear that God will punish you, because God becomes angry with unfair people like you and he punishes them. When that happens, you will know that God punishes people fairly.” BSB BSB: then you should fear the sword yourselves, because wrath brings punishment by the sword, so that you may know there is a judgment.”
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.