Job 16

1 Job replied [to Eliphaz and the others: ]

And Job made answer and said,

2 “I have heard things like that before; all of you, [instead of helping me, ] are only causing me to feel more miserable.

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

3 Will your speeches, which are only hot air, never end [RHQ]? Eliphaz, what bothers/irritates you so much that you continue replying to me?

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

4 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].

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, [unlike all of you, ] with what I said [MTY] I would encourage you and try to cause your pain to be less.

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

6 “But now, if I talk, my pain does not decrease, and if I am silent, my pain still certainly does not [RHQ] 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 God has now taken away all my strength, and he has destroyed my family.

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

8 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].

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

9 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.

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 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.

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 [It is as though] God has handed me over to ungodly people and turned me over to the wicked [DOU].

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

12 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;

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 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.

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

14 [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].

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

15 [“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.

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

16 My face is red because I have cried very much, and there are dark circles around my eyes.

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

17 [All this has happened to me] even though I have not acted violently [toward anyone], and I [always] pray sincerely/honestly [to God].

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

18 [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.

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

19 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.

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

20 My [three] friends scorn/ridicule me, but my eyes are full of tears [while I cry out] to God.

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

21 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.

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

22 [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.”

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