Job 16

1 Then Job answered:

And Job made answer and said,

2 “I have heard many things like these; miserable comforters are you all.

Such things have frequently come to my ears: you are comforters who only give trouble.

3 Is there no end to your long-winded speeches? What provokes you to continue testifying?

May words which are like the wind be stopped? or what is troubling you to make answer to them?

4 I could also speak like you if you were in my place; I could heap up words against you and shake my head at you.

It would not be hard for me to say such things if your souls were in my soul's place; joining words together against you, and shaking my head at you:

5 But I would encourage you with my mouth, and the consolation of my lips would bring relief.

I might give you strength with my mouth, and not keep back the comfort of my lips.

6 Even if I speak, my pain is not relieved, and if I hold back, how will it go away?

If I say what is in my mind, my pain becomes no less: and if I keep quiet, how much of it goes from me?

7 Surely He has now exhausted me; You have devastated all my family.

But now he has overcome me with weariness and fear, and I am in the grip of all my trouble.

8 You have bound me, and it has become a witness; my frailty rises up and testifies against me.

It has come up as a witness against me, and the wasting of my flesh makes answer to my face.

9 His anger has torn me and opposed me; He gnashes His teeth at me. My adversary pierces me with His eyes.

I am broken by his wrath, and his hate has gone after me; he has made his teeth sharp against me: my haters are looking on me with cruel eyes;

10 They open their mouths against me and strike my cheeks with contempt; they join together against me.

Their mouths are open wide against me; the blows of his bitter words are falling on my face; all of them come together in a mass against me.

11 God has delivered me to unjust men; He has thrown me to the clutches of the wicked.

God gives me over to the power of sinners, sending me violently into the hands of evil-doers.

12 I was at ease, but He shattered me; He seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has set me up as His target;

I was in comfort, but I have been broken up by his hands; he has taken me by the neck, shaking me to bits; he has put me up as a mark for his arrows.

13 His archers surround me. He pierces my kidneys without mercy and spills my gall on the ground.

His bowmen come round about me; their arrows go through my body without mercy; my life is drained out on the earth.

14 He breaks me with wound upon wound; He rushes me like a mighty warrior.

I am broken with wound after wound; he comes rushing on me like a man of war.

15 I have sewn sackcloth over my skin; I have buried my horn in the dust.

I have made haircloth the clothing of my skin, and my horn is rolled in the dust.

16 My face is red with weeping, and deep shadows ring my eyes;

My face is red with weeping, and my eyes are becoming dark;

17 yet my hands are free of violence and my prayer is pure.

Though my hands have done no violent acts, and my prayer is clean.

18 O earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry for help never be laid to rest.

O earth, let not my blood be covered, and let my cry have no resting-place!

19 Even now my witness is in heaven, and my advocate is on high.

Even now my witness is in heaven, and the supporter of my cause is on high.

20 My friends are my scoffers as my eyes pour out tears to God.

My friends make sport of me; to God my eyes are weeping,

21 Oh, that a man might plead with God as he pleads with his neighbor!

So that he may give decision for a man in his cause with God, and between a son of man and his neighbour.

22 For when only a few years are past I will go the way of no return.

For in a short time I will take the journey from which I will not come back.