Job 16
1 Job replied [to Eliphaz and the others: ]
Then 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.
“I have heard many such things; you are all miserable comforters.
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 useless words ever have an end? What is wrong with you that you answer like this?
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 could speak as you do, if you were in my place; I could collect and join words together against you and shake my head at you in mockery.
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 quivering of my lips will bring you relief!
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 lessened; if I keep from speaking, how am I helped?
7 God has now taken away all my strength, and he has destroyed my family.
But now, God, you have made me weary; you have made all my family desolate.
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].
You have made me dry up, which itself is a witness against me; the leanness of my body rises up against me, and it testifies against 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.
God has torn me in his wrath and persecuted me; He grinds his teeth in rage; my enemy fastens his eyes on me as he tears me apart.
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.
People have gaped with open mouth at me; they have hit me reproachfully on the cheek; they have gathered together against me.
11 [It is as though] God has handed me over to ungodly people and turned me over to the wicked [DOU].
God hands me over to ungodly people, and throws me into the hands of wicked people.
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, and he broke me apart. Indeed, he has taken me by the neck and dashed me to pieces; he has also set me up as his target.
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 surround me all around; God pierces my kidneys and does not spare me; he pours out my bile on 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 smashes through my wall again and again; he runs 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 sewn sackcloth on my skin; I have thrust my horn into the ground.
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; on my eyelids is the shadow of death
17 [All this has happened to me] even though I have not acted violently [toward anyone], and I [always] pray sincerely/honestly [to God].
although there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is 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.
Earth, do not cover up my blood; 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, see, my witness is in heaven; he who vouches for 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 scoff at me, but my eye pours out tears to 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.
I ask for that witness in heaven to argue for this man with God as a man does 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 have passed, I will go to a place from where I will not return.
