Job 16
1 Job replied [to Eliphaz and the others: ]
But Job answered 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.
Of such things as these I have heard enough! Miserable comforters are ye all!
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?
Will there ever be an end to words of wind? What stirreth thee up, that thou answerest?
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].
I also might speak like you, If ye were now in my place; I might string together words against you, And shake 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 would strengthen you with my mouth, And the consolation of my lips should sustain you.
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 speak, my grief is not assuaged; And if I forbear, it doth not leave me.
7 God has now taken away all my strength, and he has destroyed my family.
For now He hath quite exhausted me; Thou hast desolated all my house!
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].
Thou hast seized hold of me, and this is a witness against me; My leanness riseth up and testifieth against me 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.
His anger teareth my flesh, and pursueth me; He gnasheth upon me with his teeth; My adversary sharpeneth his eyes upon me.
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.
They gape for me with their mouths; In scorn they smite me on the cheek; With one consent they assemble against me.
11 [It is as though] God has handed me over to ungodly people and turned me over to the wicked [DOU].
God hath given me a prey to the unrighteous, And delivered me into the hands of the wicked.
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 at ease, but he hath crushed me; He hath seized me by the neck, and dashed me in pieces; He hath set me up for his mark.
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 archers encompass me around; He pierceth my reins, and doth not spare; He poureth out my gall upon the ground.
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].
He breaketh me with breach upon breach; He rusheth upon me like a warrior.
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 sewed sackcloth upon my skin, And thrust my horn into 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 upon my eyelids is deathlike darkness.
17 [All this has happened to me] even though I have not acted violently [toward anyone], and I [always] pray sincerely/honestly [to God].
Yet is there no injustice in my bands. And my prayer hath been pure.
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! cover not thou my blood, And let there be no hiding-place for my cry!
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.
Yet even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, And he who knoweth me 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 have me in derision, But my eye poureth out tears unto God.
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.
O that one might contend for a man with God, As a man contendeth with his neighbor!
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 when a few years shall have passed, I shall go the way whence I shall not return.
