The Daily Audio Bible

² I have heard many things just like these.
You are miserable comforters, all of you!
³ Is there any end to your windy words?
What provokes you to respond like this?

⁴ I also could speak just like you,
if your lives were in the same condition that my life is.
I could weave fancy words against you
and shake my head at you.
⁵ But instead, I would build you up with the words from my mouth,
and comforting words from my lips would ease your pain.
⁶ Now if I speak up, it does not lessen my pain,
and if I hold back, how much of my pain goes away?

⁷ Surely, he^[a] has worn me out!
You have devastated everyone close to me.
⁸ You have made me shrivel up,^[b]
and this testifies against me.
My emaciated body stands up
and is a witness against me.
⁹ His anger has torn me.
He has been hostile to me.
He has gnashed his teeth at me.
My opponent glares at me with piercing eyes.
¹⁰ People have opened their mouths wide against me.
They have slapped my face with contempt.
They have ganged up on me.
¹¹ God hands me over to evil people.^[c]
He throws me into the hands of the wicked.
¹² When I was at ease, he shattered me.^[d]
He seized me by the neck and has ripped me to pieces.
He has set me up as his target.
¹³ His archers surround me.
He pierces my kidneys and has no pity.
He pours out my bile on the earth.
¹⁴ He breaks down my walls in many places.
He runs against me like a warrior.
¹⁵ I have stitched sackcloth to my skin.
My horn^[e] is stuck in the dust.
¹⁶ My face is red from my weeping.
There are dark circles under my eyes,
¹⁷ even though there is no violence in my hands,
and my prayer is pure.
¹⁸ O earth, do not cover my blood.
Let my cry never find a place to rest.
¹⁹ Even now, my witness is in heaven.
My advocate is on high.
²⁰ My intercessor is my friend.
My eyes never stop weeping to God.
²¹ My intercessor pleads with God for a man,
as another human pleads for his friend.
²² A few more years will come.
Then I will go the way of no return.

17 My spirit is broken.
My days are snuffed out.
The tomb is waiting for me.
² Surely mockery closes in on me.
My eyes must live with my enemies’ bitter contempt.

³ Please pay for me the deposit that you require from me.
Indeed, who else could guarantee this payment for me?

⁴ You have hidden understanding from their hearts.
Therefore, you will not let them win.
⁵ If someone denounces friends for a payoff,
his children’s eyes will fail.

⁶ He has made me a laughingstock among the people.
They spit in my face.
⁷ My vision is blurry from grief.
I am just a shadow of myself.
⁸ The upright are appalled at this,
and the innocent are aroused against the godless.
⁹ In spite of it all, the righteous hold tight to their ways,
and everyone with clean hands grows stronger.

¹⁰ All right then—all of you, please come and try again,
but I will not find a wise man among you.
¹¹ My days have passed.
All the things I planned to do are ripped apart,
including the deepest desires of my heart.

¹² They turn night into day.
In the face of darkness, they claim light is near.

¹³ If I wait hopefully for the grave to become my house,
if I spread out my bed in the darkness,
¹⁴ if I cry out to the pit, “You are my father,”
and to the worm, “My mother” or “My sister,”
¹⁵ where then is my hope?
Who can find any hope for me?
¹⁶ Will it go down with me to the barred gates of the grave?
Will we rest in the dust together?

² How much longer are all of you going to keep hunting for words?^[f]
Come to your senses! Then we can talk.
³ Why are we considered to be like cattle?
Why are we regarded as unreasoning animals in your eyes?

⁴ You, who tear yourself to pieces with your anger,
do you expect the earth to be made desolate for your sake?
Should rocks be moved from their place for you?

⁵ The light of the wicked has been extinguished,
and not a spark of his flame still shines.
⁶ In his tent, light becomes darkness
when the lamp beside him goes out.
⁷ His powerful strides are tangled up,
and his own plans bring him down.
⁸ Yes, his feet are caught in a net,
and he stumbles into its webbing.
⁹ A trap snaps at his heel,
and a snare catches him firmly.
¹⁰ A noose lies hidden on the ground for him.
A trap is set on his path.
¹¹ Terrors frighten him on every side.
They harass him at every step.
¹² His strength is eaten away by hunger,^[g]
and disaster is waiting for him to stumble.
¹³ It eats away pieces of his skin.
Death’s firstborn child eats away pieces of him.
¹⁴ He is torn away from the safety of his tent.
He is marched off to the king of terrors.
¹⁵ Nothing that belonged to him remains in his tent.^[h]
Sulfur is scattered over his dwelling.
¹⁶ His roots dry up below,
and his branches wither above.
¹⁷ All memory of him perishes from the earth.
No one on the street remembers his name.
¹⁸ He is pushed away from the light into the darkness.
He is chased out of the world.
¹⁹ He has no posterity or descendants among his people.
He leaves no survivor in his place, where he lived as an alien.
²⁰ People in the west shudder at his fate.
People in the east are overcome with horror.
²¹ Certainly this is the dwelling place for an evil man.
This is the place for one who does not acknowledge God.

² How long will you torment my soul?
How long will you crush me with words?
³ Ten times now you have insulted me,
but you are not ashamed that you are treating me so badly.
⁴ But even if I actually were in the wrong,
my error would remain my own concern.
⁵ To be sure, when you lord it over me,
and you hurl my disgrace against me,
⁶ you should know that God has denied me justice,
and he has trapped me in his net.
⁷ Listen to me!
I cry out, “Injustice,” but I get no answer.
I call for help, but there is no justice.
⁸ He has blocked my way, so I cannot get by.
He has brought darkness on my paths.
⁹ He has stripped me of my honor,
and he has taken the crown off my head.
¹⁰ He tears me down on every side, until I am gone.
He uproots my hope like a tree.
¹¹ His anger burns against me,
and he regards me as his enemy.
¹² Together his troops advance against me.
They build a siege ramp against me.
They camp all around my tent.
¹³ He has distanced my brothers far from me,
and those who know me treat me like a stranger.
¹⁴ My relatives stay away.
Even my close friends have forgotten me.
¹⁵ Even my houseguests and my female servants treat me like a stranger.
They look upon me as a foreigner.
¹⁶ I summon my servant, but he does not answer,
even though I beg him to be gracious to me.
¹⁷ My breath keeps my wife away from me,
and I am repulsive to my mother’s children.
¹⁸ Even young boys reject me.
When I get up, they speak against me.
¹⁹ My closest confidants shun me,
and those I love have turned against me.
²⁰ I am nothing but skin and bones.
I have escaped with the skin of my teeth.
²¹ Have mercy on me.
Have mercy on me, you friends of mine,
because the hand of God has struck me.
²² Why do you pursue me the way God does?
Will you never get enough of my flesh?
²³ Oh how I wish that my words were written down.
Oh how I wish that they were inscribed in bronze,^[i]
24 that they would be engraved in rock forever
with an iron tool and letters filled with lead.
²⁵ As for me, I know that my Redeemer^[j] lives,
and that at the end of time^[k] he will stand over the dust.
²⁶ Then, even after my skin has been destroyed,
nevertheless, in my own flesh I will see God.^[l]
27 I myself will see him.
My own eyes will see him, and not as a stranger.
My emotions are in turmoil^[m] within me.

²⁸ If you say, “What can we do to pursue him?”
and “He is the root of his own problems,”
²⁹ then you should fear the edge of the sword for yourselves!
For wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
so that you will know that there is judgment.

⁴ How blessed is everyone who trusts in the Lord,
who does not look to the proud
or to those who turn aside to falsehood.
⁵ Many are the wonders you have done, O Lord my God.
No one can explain to you all your thoughts for us.^[a]
If I try to speak and tell about them,
they are too many to count.

22 A good name is worth more than great wealth.
Respect is worth more than silver and gold.