1Then Job replied:2‘I have heard many things like these; you are miserable comforters, all of you!3Will your long-winded speeches never end? What ails you that you keep on arguing?4I also could speak like you, if you were in my place; I could make fine speeches against you and shake my head at you.5But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief.6‘Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved; and if I refrain, it does not go away.7Surely, God, you have worn me out; you have devastated my entire household.8You have shrivelled me up – and it has become a witness; my gauntness rises up and testifies against me.9God assails me and tears me in his anger and gnashes his teeth at me; my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes.10People open their mouths to jeer at me; they strike my cheek in scorn and unite together against me.11God has turned me over to the ungodly and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked.12All was well with me, but he shattered me; he seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has made me his target;13his archers surround me. Without pity, he pierces my kidneys and spills my gall on the ground.14Again and again he bursts upon me; he rushes at me like a warrior.15‘I have sewed sackcloth over my skin and buried my brow in the dust.16My face is red with weeping, dark shadows ring my eyes;17yet my hands have been free of violence and my prayer is pure.18‘Earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry never be laid to rest!19Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high.20My intercessor is my friend[1] as my eyes pour out tears to God;21on behalf of a man he pleads with God as one pleads for a friend.22‘Only a few years will pass before I take the path of no return.
Job 16
English Standard Version
Job Replies: Miserable Comforters Are You
1Then Job answered and said:2“I have heard many such things; miserable comforters are you all. (Job 12:3; Job 13:4)3Shall windy words have an end? Or what provokes you that you answer? (Job 15:2)4I also could speak as you do, if you were in my place; I could join words together against you and shake my head at you. (2Ki 19:21; Ps 22:7; Ps 109:25; Isa 37:22; Jer 18:16; La 2:15; Mt 27:39; Mr 15:29)5I could strengthen you with my mouth, and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain.6“If I speak, my pain is not assuaged, and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me?7Surely now God has worn me out; he has[1] made desolate all my company. (Job 1:15; Job 15:34)8And he has shriveled me up, which is a witness against me, and my leanness has risen up against me; it testifies to my face. (Ru 1:21; Job 10:17; Ps 109:24)9He has torn me in his wrath and hated me; he has gnashed his teeth at me; my adversary sharpens his eyes against me. (Job 18:4; Job 30:21; Ps 35:16; Ps 37:12; Ps 112:10; La 2:16; Ho 6:1; Am 1:11; Ac 7:54)10Men have gaped at me with their mouth; they have struck me insolently on the cheek; they mass themselves together against me. (1Ki 22:24; Ps 3:7; Ps 22:13; Ps 35:15; Isa 50:6; La 3:30; Mic 5:1; Ac 23:2)11God gives me up to the ungodly and casts me into the hands of the wicked.12I was at ease, and he broke me apart; he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces; he set me up as his target; (Job 7:20; La 3:12)13his archers surround me. He slashes open my kidneys and does not spare; he pours out my gall on the ground. (Job 20:25; Job 27:22; Jer 50:29; La 2:11)14He breaks me with breach upon breach; he runs upon me like a warrior. (Job 15:26; Job 30:14)15I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin and have laid my strength in the dust. (2Sa 3:31; Ps 7:5; Ps 75:10)16My face is red with weeping, and on my eyelids is deep darkness, (Job 3:5)17although there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure. (Isa 53:9)18“O earth, cover not my blood, and let my cry find no resting place. (Ge 4:10; Isa 26:21; Eze 24:7)19Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and he who testifies for me is on high. (Ps 89:37; Ps 148:1; Ro 1:9)20My friends scorn me; my eye pours out tears to God, (Job 12:5)21that he would argue the case of a man with God, as[2] a son of man does with his neighbor. (Job 31:35)22For when a few years have come I shall go the way from which I shall not return. (Job 10:21)