Job
1Then Job replied:
2“How long will you torment me
and crush me with words?
3Ten times now you have reproached me;
shamelessly you attack me.
4If it is true that I have gone astray,
my error remains my concern alone.
5If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me
and use my humiliation against me,
6then know that God has wronged me
and drawn his net around me.
7“Though I cry, ‘Violence!’ I get no response;
though I call for help, there is no justice.
8He has blocked my way so I cannot pass;
he has shrouded my paths in darkness.
9He has stripped me of my honor
and removed the crown from my head.
10He tears me down on every side till I am gone;
he uproots my hope like a tree.
11His anger burns against me;
he counts me among his enemies.
12His troops advance in force;
they build a siege ramp against me
and encamp around my tent.
13“He has alienated my family from me;
my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.
14My relatives have gone away;
my closest friends have forgotten me.
15My guests and my female servants count me a foreigner;
they look on me as on a stranger.
16I summon my servant, but he does not answer,
though I beg him with my own mouth.
17My breath is offensive to my wife;
I am loathsome to my own family.
18Even the little boys scorn me;
when I appear, they ridicule me.
19All my intimate friends detest me;
those I love have turned against me.
20I am nothing but skin and bones;
I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.19:20 Or only by my gums
21“Have pity on me, my friends, have pity,
for the hand of God has struck me.
22Why do you pursue me as God does?
Will you never get enough of my flesh?
23“Oh, that my words were recorded,
that they were written on a scroll,
24that they were inscribed with an iron tool on19:24 Or and lead,
or engraved in rock forever!
25I know that my redeemer19:25 Or vindicator lives,
and that in the end he will stand on the earth.19:25 Or on my grave
26And after my skin has been destroyed,
yet19:26 Or And after I awake, / though this body has been destroyed, / then in19:26 Or destroyed, / apart from my flesh I will see God;
27I myself will see him
with my own eyes—I, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me!
28“If you say, ‘How we will hound him,
since the root of the trouble lies in him,19:28 Many Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint and Vulgate; most Hebrew manuscripts me’
29you should fear the sword yourselves;
for wrath will bring punishment by the sword,
and then you will know that there is judgment.19:29 Or sword, / that you may come to know the Almighty”
Mawu a Yobu
1Pamenepo Yobu anayankha kuti,
2“Kodi mudzakhala mukundizunza mpaka liti,
ndi kundilasa ndi mawu anuwo?
3Inuyo mwandinyoza kwambiri;
mwanditsutsa mopanda manyazi.
4Ngati ndi zoona kuti ine ndasochera,
cholakwachotu nʼchanga.
5Ngati ndithudi mukudziyika nokha pamwamba panga,
ndi kugwiritsa ntchito kunyozedwa kwanga polimbana nane,
6pamenepa dziwani kuti Mulungu wandilakwira
ndipo wandizinga ukonde wake.
7“Ngakhale ndifuwule kuti, ‘Akundizunza!’ Palibe wondiyankha;
ngakhale ndipemphe thandizo, palibe wondichitira zolungama.
8Mulungu wanditsekera njira yanga kotero sindingathe kudutsa;
waphimba njira zanga ndi mdima.
9Iye wandilanda ulemu wanga
ndipo wandivula chipewa chaufumu pamutu panga.
10Wandiphwanyaphwanya mbali zonse ndipo ndatheratu;
Iye wazula chiyembekezo changa ngati mtengo.
11Wandikwiyira ndipo
akundiyesa mmodzi mwa adani ake.
12Ankhondo ake akubwera kwa ine mwamphamvu,
akonzekera zodzalimbana nane
ndipo azungulira nyumba yanga.
13“Mulungu wandisiyanitsa ndi abale anga;
wasandutsa odziwana nane kukhala achilendo kwa ine.
14Abale anga andithawa;
abwenzi anga andiyiwala.
15Anthu odzacheza ku nyumba kwanga ndiponso antchito anga aakazi andisandutsa mlendo;
ndasanduka mlendo mʼmaso mwawo.
16Ndikayitana wa ntchito wanga, iye sandiyankha,
ngakhale ndikapempha ndi pakamwa panga sandichitira kanthu.
17Mpweya wanga umamunyansa mkazi wanga;
ndine chinthu chonyansa kwa abale anga a mimba imodzi.
18Inde, ngakhale ana amandinyoza;
akandiona amandinyodola.
19Anzanga onse apamtima amanyansidwa nane;
iwo amene ndinkawakonda andiwukira.
20Ndangotsala khungu ndi mafupa okhaokha;
ndapulumuka lokumbakumba.
21“Mvereni chisoni, inu abwenzi anga, mvereni chisoni,
pakuti dzanja la Mulungu landikantha.
22Chifukwa chiyani mukundilondola ngati Mulungu?
Kodi simunatope nalo thupi langa?
23“Aa, achikhala mawu anga analembedwa,
achikhala analembedwa mʼbuku,
24akanalembedwa pa mwala ndi chitsulo,
akanalembedwa pa thanthwe kuti sangathe kufufutidwa!
25Koma ndikudziwa kuti mpulumutsi wanga ali ndi moyo,
ndipo pa nthawi yomaliza adzabwera kudzanditeteza.
26Ndipo khungu langa litatha nʼkuwonongeka,
mʼthupi langa lomweli ndidzamuona Mulungu.
27Ine ndemwe ndidzamuona Iye
ndi maso angawa, ineyo, osati wina ayi.
Ndithu mtima wanga ukufunitsitsadi!
28“Koma inu mukuti, ‘Haa! Tingamuzunze bwanji,
popeza kuti zonsezi zaoneka chifukwa cha iye yemweyo?’
29Inu muyenera kuopa lupanga;
pakuti mkwiyo wake umalangadi ndi lupanga;
zikadzatero muzadziwa kuti chiweruzo chilipo ndithu.”
