< Ayubu 16 >
Job replied [to Eliphaz and the others: ]
2 “Nimepata kusikia mambo mengi kama haya, nanyi nyote ni wafariji wenye kutaabisha!
“I have heard things like that before; all of you, [instead of helping me, ] are only causing me to feel more miserable.
3 Je, maneno yenu mengi yasiyo na maana hayana mwisho? Mna nini hata mwendelee kushindana kwa maneno?
Will your speeches, which are only hot air, never end [RHQ]? Eliphaz, what bothers/irritates you so much that you continue replying to me?
4 Mimi pia ningeweza kuzungumza kama ninyi, kama mngekuwa katika hali yangu; ningeweza kutoa hotuba nzuri dhidi yenu, na kuwatikisia ninyi kichwa changu.
If it were you [three and not I] who were suffering, I could say the things that you are saying; I could make great speeches [to criticize/condemn you], and I could shake my head at you [to ridicule you].
5 Lakini kinywa changu kingewatia moyo; faraja kutoka midomoni mwangu, ingewaletea nafuu.
But, [unlike all of you, ] with what I said [MTY] I would encourage you and try to cause your pain to be less.
6 “Lakini kama nikisema, maumivu yangu bado hayatulizwi; nami kama nikijizuia, wala hayaondoki.
“But now, if I talk, my pain does not decrease, and if I am silent, my pain still certainly does not [RHQ] go away.
7 Ee Mungu, hakika umenichakaza; umewaangamiza kabisa watu wa nyumbani mwangu wote.
God has now taken away all my strength, and he has destroyed my family.
8 Umenikunjakunja, nalo limekuwa ushahidi; nako kukonda kwangu kumeongezeka sana na kushuhudia dhidi yangu.
He has shriveled me up, and people think that shows that I [am a sinner]. And people see that I am only skin and bones, and they think that proves that I [am guilty].
9 Mungu amenishambulia na kunirarua katika hasira yake, na kunisagia meno yake; adui yangu hunikazia macho yake makali.
Because God is very angry with me and hates me, [it is as though he is a wild animal that] [MET] has gnashed his teeth at me because he is my enemy.
10 Watu wamenifumbulia vinywa vyao kunidhihaki; hunipiga shavuni mwangu kwa dharau, na kuungana pamoja dhidi yangu.
People gape/stare at me with their mouths open [to sneer at me]; they have struck me on the face/cheek to ridicule me, and they crowd around me to threaten me.
11 Mungu amenigeuzia kwa watu wabaya, na kunitupa katika makucha ya waovu.
[It is as though] God has handed me over to ungodly people and turned me over to the wicked [DOU].
12 Mambo yote yalikuwa mazuri, lakini alinivunjavunja; amenikamata shingo na kuniponda. Amenifanya mimi kuwa shabaha yake;
Previously, I was living peacefully, but he crushed me; [it is as though] he grabbed my neck and smashed me to pieces. [It is as though] [MET] he set me up like a target;
13 wapiga upinde wake wananizunguka. Bila huruma, huchoma figo zangu, na kuimwaga nyongo yangu juu ya nchi.
people are surrounding me [and shooting arrows at me]. His arrows pierce my kidneys and cause the bile [from my liver] to spill onto the ground, and God does not pity me at all.
14 Huniponda tena na tena; hunishambulia kama shujaa wa vita.
[It is as though] [MET] I am a wall that he is breaking through; he rushes at me like [SIM] a soldier [attacking his enemies].
15 “Nimejishonea nguo ya gunia juu ya mwili wangu nami nimekizika kipaji cha uso wangu kwenye vumbi.
[“Because I am mourning, ] I wear pieces of rough cloth that I have sewed together, and I sit [here] in the dirt, very depressed/discouraged.
16 Uso wangu umekuwa mwekundu kwa kulia, macho yangu yamepigwa na giza kuu.
My face is red because I have cried very much, and there are dark circles around my eyes.
17 Hata hivyo mikono yangu haijafanya jeuri, na maombi yangu ni safi.
[All this has happened to me] even though I have not acted violently [toward anyone], and I [always] pray sincerely/honestly [to God].
18 “Ee nchi, usiifunike damu yangu, nacho kilio changu kisinyamazishwe kamwe.
[When I die, ] I want the ground [APO] to [act as though I had been murdered and] cry out against those who killed me, and I do not want anyone to stop me while I am demanding [that God act justly toward] me.
19 Hata sasa shahidi wangu yuko mbinguni; wakili wangu yuko juu.
But even now, [I know that] there is someone in heaven who will testify for me, and he will say that what I have done is right.
20 Mwombezi wangu ni rafiki yangu macho yangu yamwagapo machozi kwa Mungu;
My [three] friends scorn/ridicule me, but my eyes are full of tears [while I cry out] to God.
21 kwa niaba ya mtu anamsihi Mungu kama mtu anavyosihi kwa ajili ya rafiki yake.
I pray that [the] one [who knows what I have done] would come to plead with God for me like people plead for their friends.
22 “Ni miaka michache tu itapita kabla sijaenda safari ambayo sitarudi.
[I say this because] within a few years [I will die]; I will walk along the [to the grave] from which I will never return.”