Good News Translation (GNT)

1-2 Yes, I’ve heard all that before.

But how can a human being win a case against God?

3 How can anyone argue with him?

He can ask a thousand questions

that no one could ever answer.

4 God is so wise and powerful;

no one can stand up against him.

5 Without warning he moves mountains

and in anger he destroys them.

6 God sends earthquakes and shakes the ground;

he rocks the pillars that support the earth.

7 He can keep the sun from rising,

and the stars from shining at night.

8 No one helped God spread out the heavens

or trample the sea monster’s back.

9 God hung the stars in the sky—the Dipper,

Orion, the Pleiades, and the stars of the south.

10 We cannot understand the great things he does,

and to his miracles there is no end.

11 God passes by, but I cannot see him.

12 He takes what he wants, and no one can stop him;

no one dares ask him, “What are you doing?”

13 God’s anger is constant. He crushed his enemies

who helped Rahab,the sea monster, oppose him.

14 So how can I find words to answer God?

15 Though I am innocent, all I can do

is beg for mercy from God my judge.

16 Yet even then, if he lets me speak,

I can’t believe he would listen to me.

17 He sends storms to batter and bruise me

without any reason at all.

18 He won’t let me catch my breath;

he has filled my life with bitterness.

19 Should I try force? Try force on God?

Should I take him to court? Could anyone make him go?

20 I am innocent and faithful, but my words sound guilty,

and everything I say seems to condemn me.

21-22 I am innocent, but I no longer care.

I am sick of living. Nothing matters;

innocent or guilty, God will destroy us.

23 When an innocent person suddenly dies,

God laughs.

24 God gave the world to the wicked.

He made all the judges blind.

And if God didn’t do it, who did?

25 My days race by, not one of them good.

26 My life passes like the swiftest boat,

as fast as an eagle swooping down on a rabbit.

27-28 If I smile and try to forget my pain,

all my suffering comes back to haunt me;

I know that God does hold me guilty.

29 Since I am held guilty, why should I bother?

30 No soap can wash away my sins.

31 God throws me into a pit with filth,

and even my clothes are ashamed of me.

32 If God were human, I could answer him;

we could go to court to decide our quarrel.

33 But there is no one to step between us—

no one to judge both God and me.

34 Stop punishing me, God!

Keep your terrors away!

35 I am not afraid. I am going to talk

because I know my own heart.

—https://cdn-youversionapi.global.ssl.fastly.net/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JOB/9-1f455aa6d2d5d319e71508d0dfb05bf1.mp3?version_id=68—

1 I am tired of living.

Listen to my bitter complaint.

2 Don’t condemn me, God.

Tell me! What is the charge against me?

3 Is it right for you to be so cruel?

To despise what you yourself have made?

And then to smile on the schemes of wicked people?

4 Do you see things as we do?

5 Is your life as short as ours?

6 Then why do you track down all my sins

and hunt down every fault I have?

7 You know that I am not guilty,

that no one can save me from you.

8 Your hands formed and shaped me,

and nowthose same hands destroy me.

9 Remember that you made me from clay;

are you going to crush me back to dust?

10 You gave my father strength to beget me;

you made me grow in my mother’s womb.

11 You formed my body with bones and sinews

and covered the bones with muscles and skin.

12 You have given me life and constant love,

and your care has kept me alive.

13 But now I know that all that time

you were secretly planning to harm me.

14 You were watching to see if I would sin,

so that you could refuse to forgive me.

15 As soon as I sin, I’m in trouble with you,

but when I do right, I get no credit.

I am miserable and covered with shame.

16 If I have any success at all,

you hunt me down like a lion;

to hurt me you even work miracles.

17 You always have some witness against me;

your anger toward me grows and grows;

you always plan some new attack.

18 Why, God, did you let me be born?

I should have died before anyone saw me.

19 To go from the womb straight to the grave

would have been as good as never existing.

20 Isn’t my life almost over? Leave me alone!

Let me enjoy the time I have left.

21 I am going soon and will never come back—

going to a land that is dark and gloomy,

22 a land of darkness, shadows, and confusion,

where the light itself is darkness.

—https://cdn-youversionapi.global.ssl.fastly.net/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JOB/10-bbfd57f31a3a8894daa230fa7953efdf.mp3?version_id=68—

1-2 Will no one answer all this nonsense?

Does talking so much put you in the right?

3 Job, do you think we can’t answer you?

That your mocking words will leave us speechless?

4 You claim that what you say is true;

you claim you are pure in the sight of God.

5 How I wish God would answer you!

6 He would tell you there are many sides to wisdom;

there are things too deep for human knowledge.

God is punishing you less than you deserve.

7 Can you discover the limits and bounds

of the greatness and power of God?

8 The sky is no limit for God,

but it lies beyond your reach.

God knows the world of the dead,

but you do not know it.

9 God’s greatness is broader than the earth,

wider than the sea.

10 If God arrests you and brings you to trial,

who is there to stop him?

11 God knows which people are worthless;

he sees all their evil deeds.

12 Stupid people will start being wise

when wild donkeys are born tame.

13 Put your heart right, Job. Reach out to God.

14 Put away evil and wrong from your home.

15 Then face the world again, firm and courageous.

16 Then all your troubles will fade from your memory,

like floods that are past and remembered no more.

17 Your life will be brighter than sunshine at noon,

and life’s darkest hours will shine like the dawn.

18 You will live secure and full of hope;

God will protect you and give you rest.

19 You won’t be afraid of your enemies;

many people will ask you for help.

20 But the wicked will look around in despair

and find that there is no way to escape.

Their one hope is that death will come.

—https://cdn-youversionapi.global.ssl.fastly.net/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JOB/11-a4906eaca0b8be398e86a220ac8acb23.mp3?version_id=68—

1-2 Yes, you are the voice of the people.

When you die, wisdom will die with you.

3 But I have as much sense as you have;

I am in no way inferior to you;

everyone knows all that you have said.

4 Even my friends laugh at me now;

they laugh, although I am righteous and blameless;

but there was a time when God answered my prayers.

5 You have no troubles, and yet you make fun of me;

you hit someone who is about to fall.

6 But thieves and godless people live in peace,

though their only god is their own strength.

7 Even birds and animals have much they could teach you;

8 ask the creatures of earth and sea for their wisdom.

9 All of them know that the Lord’s hand made them.

10 It is God who directs the lives of his creatures;

everyone’s life is in his power.

11 But just as your tongue enjoys tasting food,

your ears enjoy hearing words.

12-13 Old people have wisdom,

but God has wisdom and power.

Old people have insight;

God has insight and power to act.

14 When God tears down, who can rebuild,

and who can free those God imprisons?

15 Drought comes when God withholds rain;

floods come when he turns water loose.

16 God is strong and always victorious;

both deceived and deceiver are in his power.

17 He takes away the wisdom of rulers

and makes leaders act like fools.

18 He dethrones kings and makes them prisoners;

19 he humbles priests and men of power.

20 He silences those who are trusted,

and takes the wisdom of old people away.

21 He disgraces those in power

and puts an end to the strength of rulers.

22 He sends light to places dark as death.

23 He makes nations strong and great,

but then he defeats and destroys them.

24 He makes their leaders foolish

and lets them wander confused and lost;

25 they grope in the dark and stagger like drunkards.

—https://cdn-youversionapi.global.ssl.fastly.net/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JOB/12-694db3eae873ecc605e97786b916b846.mp3?version_id=68—

1-2 Everything you say, I have heard before.

I understand it all; I know as much as you do.

I’m not your inferior.

3 But my dispute is with God, not you;

I want to argue my case with him.

4 You cover up your ignorance with lies;

you are like doctors who can’t heal anyone.

5 Say nothing, and someone may think you are wise!

6 Listen while I state my case.

7 Why are you lying?

Do you think your lies will benefit God?

8 Are you trying to defend him?

Are you going to argue his case in court?

9 If God looks at you closely, will he find anything good?

Do you think you can fool God the way you fool others?

10 Even though your prejudice is hidden,

he will reprimand you,

11 and his power will fill you with terror.

12 Your proverbs are as useless as ashes;

your arguments are as weak as clay.

13 Be quiet and give me a chance to speak,

and let the results be what they will.

14 I amready to risk my life.

15 I’ve lost all hope, so what if God kills me?

I am going to state my case to him.

16 It may even be that my boldness will save me,

since no wicked person would dare to face God.

17 Now listen to my words of explanation.

18 I am ready to state my case,

because I know I am in the right.

19 Are you coming to accuse me, God?

If you do, I am ready to be silent and die.

20 Let me ask for two things; agree to them,

and I will not try to hide from you:

21 stop punishing me, and don’t crush me with terror.

22 Speak first, O God, and I will answer.

Or let me speak, and you answer me.

23 What are my sins? What wrongs have I done?

What crimes am I charged with?

24 Why do you avoid me?

Why do you treat me like an enemy?

25 Are you trying to frighten me? I’m nothing but a leaf;

you are attacking a piece of dry straw.

26 You bring bitter charges against me,

even for what I did when I was young.

27 You bind chains on my feet;

you watch every step I take,

and even examine my footprints.

28 As a result, I crumble like rotten wood,

like a moth-eaten coat.

—https://cdn-youversionapi.global.ssl.fastly.net/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JOB/13-1625ddb59dadea1f94c98ee0aa3563f7.mp3?version_id=68—

1 We are all born weak and helpless.

All lead the same short, troubled life.

2 We grow and wither as quickly as flowers;

we disappear like shadows.

3 Will you even look at me, God,

or put me on trial and judge me?

4 Nothing clean can ever come

from anything as unclean as human beings.

5 The length of our lives is decided beforehand—

the number of months we will live.

You have settled it, and it can’t be changed.

6 Look away from us and leave us alone;

let us enjoy our hard life—if we can.

7 There is hope for a tree that has been cut down;

it can come back to life and sprout.

8 Even though its roots grow old,

and its stump dies in the ground,

9 with water it will sprout like a young plant.

10 But we die, and that is the end of us;

we die, and where are we then?

11 Like rivers that stop running,

and lakes that go dry,

12 people die, never to rise.

They will never wake up while the sky endures;

they will never stir from their sleep.

13 I wish you would hide me in the world of the dead;

let me be hidden until your anger is over,

and then set a time to remember me.

14 If a man dies, can he come back to life?

But I will wait for better times,

wait till this time of trouble is ended.

15 Then you will call, and I will answer,

and you will be pleased with me, your creature.

16 Then you will watch every step I take,

but you will not keep track of my sins.

17 You will forgive them and put them away;

you will wipe out all the wrongs I have done.

18 There comes a time when mountains fall

and solid cliffs are moved away.

19 Water will wear down rocks,

and heavy rain will wash away the soil;

so you destroy our hope for life.

20 You overpower us and send us away forever;

our faces are twisted in death.

21 Our children win honor, but we never know it,

nor are we told when they are disgraced.

22 We feel only the pain of our own bodies

and the grief of our own minds.

—https://cdn-youversionapi.global.ssl.fastly.net/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JOB/14-6eec2cf919fe61b674264b056b576394.mp3?version_id=68—

The Second Dialogue

1-2 Empty words, Job! Empty words!

3 No one who is wise would talk the way you do

or defend himself with such meaningless words.

4 If you had your way, no one would fear God;

no one would pray to him.

5 Your wickedness is evident by what you say;

you are trying to hide behind clever words.

6 There is no need for me to condemn you;

you are condemned by every word you speak.

7 Do you think you were the first person born?

Were you there when God made the mountains?

8 Did you overhear the plans God made?

Does human wisdom belong to you alone?

9 There is nothing you know that we don’t know.

10 We learned our wisdom from gray-haired people—

those born before your father.

11 God offers you comfort; why still reject it?

We have spoken for him with calm, even words.

12 But you are excited and glare at us in anger.

13 You are angry with God and denounce him.

14 Can any human being be really pure?

Can anyone be right with God?

15 Why, God does not trust even his angels;

even they are not pure in his sight.

16 And we drink evil as if it were water;

yes, we are corrupt; we are worthless.

17 Now listen, Job, to what I know.

18 Those who are wise have taught me truths

which they learned from their ancestors,

and they kept no secrets hidden.

19 Their land was free from foreigners;

there was no one to lead them away from God.

20 The wicked who oppress others

will be in torment as long as they live.

21 Voices of terror will scream in their ears,

and robbers attack when they think they are safe.

22 They have no hope of escaping from darkness,

for somewhere a sword is waiting to kill them,

23 and vulturesare waitingto eat their corpses.

They know their future is dark;

24 disaster, like a powerful king,

is waiting to attack them.

25 That is the fate of those

who shake their fists at God

and defy the Almighty.

26-27 They are proud and rebellious;

they stubbornly hold up their shields

and rush to fight against God.

28 They are the ones who captured cities

and seized houses whose owners had fled,

but war will destroy those cities and houses.

29 They will not remain rich for long;

nothing they own will last.

Even their shadowswill vanish,

30 and they will not escape from darkness.

They will be like trees

whose branches are burned by fire,

whose blossomsare blown away by the wind.

31 If they are foolish enough to trust in evil,

then evil will be their reward.

32 Before their time is up they will wither,

wither like a branch and never be green again.

33 They will be like vines that lose their unripe grapes;

like olive trees that drop their blossoms.

34 There will be no descendants for godless people,

and fire will destroy the homes built by bribery.

35 These are the ones who plan trouble and do evil;

their hearts are always full of deceit.

—https://cdn-youversionapi.global.ssl.fastly.net/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JOB/15-ba6f35d5a9cf073456b3cd85aa96326f.mp3?version_id=68—

1-2 I have heard words like that before;

the comfort you give is only torment.

3 Are you going to keep on talking forever?

Do you always have to have the last word?

4 If you were in my place and I in yours,

I could say everything you are saying.

I could shake my head wisely

and drown you with a flood of words.

5 I could strengthen you with advice

and keep talking to comfort you.

6 But nothing I say helps,

and being silent does not calm my pain.

7 You have worn me out, God;

you have let my family be killed.

8 You have seized me; you are my enemy.

I am skin and bones,

and people take that as proof of my guilt.

9 In anger God tears me limb from limb;

he glares at me with hate.

10 People sneer at me;

they crowd around me and slap my face.

11 God has handed me over to evil people.

12 I was living in peace,

but God took me by the throat

and battered me and crushed me.

God uses me for target practice

13 and shoots arrows at me from every side—

arrows that pierce and wound me;

and even then he shows no pity.

14 He wounds me again and again;

he attacks like a soldier gone mad with hate.

15 I mourn and wear clothes made of sackcloth,

and I sit here in the dust defeated.

16 I have cried until my face is red,

and my eyes are swollen and circled with shadows,

17 but I am not guilty of any violence,

and my prayer to God is sincere.

18 O Earth, don’t hide the wrongs done to me!

Don’t let my call for justice be silenced!

19 There is someone in heaven

to stand up for me and take my side.

20 My friends scorn me;

my eyes pour out tears to God.

21 I want someone to plead with God for me,

as one pleads for a friend.

22 My years are passing now,

and I walk the road of no return.

—https://cdn-youversionapi.global.ssl.fastly.net/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JOB/16-a02e326ec445c1e943a51dcc8d4b7fd7.mp3?version_id=68—

1 The end of my life is near. I can hardly breathe;

there is nothing left for me but the grave.

2 I watch how bitterly everyone mocks me.

3 I am being honest, God. Accept my word.

There is no one else to support what I say.

4 You have closed their minds to reason;

don’t let them triumph over me now.

5 In the old proverb someone betrays his friends for money,

and his children suffer for it.

6 And now people use this proverb against me;

they come and spit in my face.

7 My grief has almost made me blind;

my arms and legs are as thin as shadows.

8 Those who claim to be honest are shocked,

and they all condemn me as godless.

9 Those who claim to be respectable

are more and more convinced they are right.

10 But if all of them came and stood before me,

I would not find even one of them wise.

11 My days have passed; my plans have failed;

my hope is gone.

12 But my friends say night is daylight;

they say that light is near,

but I know I remain in darkness.

13 My only hope is the world of the dead,

where I will lie down to sleep in the dark.

14 I will call the grave my father,

and the worms that eat me

I will call my mother and my sisters.

15 Where is there any hope for me?

Who sees any?

16 Hope will not go with me

when I go down to the world of the dead.

—https://cdn-youversionapi.global.ssl.fastly.net/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JOB/17-5740232fb44cccf95a5e964e22de1673.mp3?version_id=68—

1-2 Job, can’t people like you ever be quiet?

If you stopped to listen, we could talk to you.

3 What makes you think we are as stupid as cattle?

4 You are only hurting yourself with your anger.

Will the earth be deserted because you are angry?

Will God move mountains to satisfy you?

5 The light of the wicked will still be put out;

its flame will never burn again.

6 The lamp in their tents will be darkened.

7 Their steps were firm, but now they stumble;

they fall—victims of their own advice.

8 They walk into a net, and their feet are caught;

9 a trap catches their heels and holds them.

10 On the ground a snare is hidden;

a trap has been set in their path.

11 All around them terror is waiting;

it follows them at every step.

12 They used to be rich, but now they go hungry;

disaster stands and waits at their side.

13 A deadly disease spreads over their bodies

and causes their arms and legs to rot.

14 They are torn from the tents where they lived secure,

and are dragged off to face King Death.

15 Now anyone may live in their tents—

after sulfur is sprinkled to disinfect them!

16 Their roots and branches are withered and dry.

17 Their fame is ended at home and abroad;

no one remembers them any more.

18 They will be driven out of the land of the living,

driven from light into darkness.

19 They have no descendants, no survivors.

20 From east to west, all who hear of their fate

shudder and tremble with fear.

21 That is the fate of evil people,

the fate of those who care nothing for God.

—https://cdn-youversionapi.global.ssl.fastly.net/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JOB/18-e014985142f05b588c1cabc60955de85.mp3?version_id=68—