Job’s Reply
1Job replied,
2“I’ve heard many of these things before.
All of you are terrible at comforting me!
3Your speeches go on forever.
Won’t they ever end?
What’s wrong with you?
Why do you keep on arguing?
4If you and I changed places,
I could say the same things you are saying.
I could make fine speeches against you.
I could shake my head at you.
5But what I might say would give you hope.
My words of comfort would help you.
6“If I speak, it doesn’t help me.
And if I keep quiet, my pain doesn’t go away.
7God has worn me out completely.
He has destroyed my whole family.
8People can see the condition he has put me in.
My thin body stands as a witness against me.
9God is angry with me.
He attacks me and tears me up.
He grinds his teeth at me.
He stares at me as if he were my enemy.
10People make fun of me.
They slap my face and laugh at me.
All of them join together against me.
11God has turned me over to sinful people.
He has handed me over to them.
12Everything was going well with me.
But he broke me into pieces like a clay pot.
He grabbed me by the neck and crushed me.
He has taken aim at me.
13He shoots his arrows at me from all sides.
Without pity, he stabs me in the kidneys.
He spills my insides on the ground.
14He smashes through me as if I were a wall.
He rushes at me like a fighting man.
15“I’ve sewed rough clothing over my skin.
All I can do is sit here in the dust.
16My face is red from crying.
I have dark circles under my eyes.
17But I haven’t harmed anyone.
My prayers to God are pure.
18“Earth, please don’t cover up my blood!
May God always hear my cry for help!
19Even now my witness is in heaven.
The one who speaks up for me is there.
20My go-between is my friend
as I pour out my tears to God.
21He makes his appeal to God to help me
as a person pleads for a friend.
22“Only a few years will pass by.
Then I’ll take the path of no return.
約伯的回答
1約伯回答說：
2「這些話，我聽過很多，
你們安慰人，反讓人愁煩。
3你們的空談無休無止嗎？
是什麼惹你們說個不停？
4倘若你我易地而處，
我也能說你們那樣的話，
滔滔不絕地攻擊你們，
向你們搖頭。
5我會對你們講鼓勵的話，
用勸慰之言減輕你們的痛苦。
6「我若申辯，痛苦不減；
我若緘默，痛苦猶在。
7上帝啊，你使我精疲力竭，
家破人亡，
8你榨乾了我，
使我骨瘦如柴，
這成了我的罪證。
9上帝在憤怒中撕裂我，迫害我，
向我咬牙切齒；
仇敵惡狠狠地盯著我。
10他們嘲笑我，
輕蔑地摑我的臉，
聯合起來攻擊我。
11上帝把我交給罪人，
把我扔到惡人手中。
12我本來平順，祂擊垮了我，
祂抓住我的頸項將我摔碎，
把我當祂的箭靶。
13祂的弓箭手四面圍住我，
祂毫不留情地刺透我的腎臟，
使我肝膽塗地。
14祂一次次地擊傷我，
像勇士一樣撲向我。
15我縫製麻衣，披在身上，
把我的榮耀埋在塵土中。
16我哭得臉頰紅腫，
眼皮發黑。
17但我未行殘暴之事，
我的禱告純真。
18「大地啊！不要掩蓋我的血，
不要攔阻我的呼求。
19此時，我的見證人在天上，
我的辯護者在高天上。
20我的朋友譏笑我，
我在上帝面前流淚。
21但願人與上帝之間有仲裁者，
如同人與人之間。
22因為我的年日不多，
我快要踏上不歸路。
