Job 16
1 respondens autem Iob dixit
Job replied [to Eliphaz and the others: ]
2 audivi frequenter talia consolatores onerosi omnes vos estis
“I have heard things like that before; all of you, [instead of helping me, ] are only causing me to feel more miserable.
3 numquid habebunt finem verba ventosa aut aliquid tibi molestum est si loquaris
Will your speeches, which are only hot air, never end [RHQ]? Eliphaz, what bothers/irritates you so much that you continue replying to me?
4 poteram et ego similia vestri loqui atque utinam esset anima vestra pro anima mea consolarer et ego vos sermonibus et moverem caput meum super vos
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].
5 roborarem vos ore meo et moverem labia quasi parcens vobis
But, [unlike all of you, ] with what I said [MTY] I would encourage you and try to cause your pain to be less.
6 sed quid agam si locutus fuero non quiescet dolor meus et si tacuero non recedet a me
“But now, if I talk, my pain does not decrease, and if I am silent, my pain still certainly does not [RHQ] go away.
7 nunc autem oppressit me dolor meus et in nihili redacti sunt omnes artus mei
God has now taken away all my strength, and he has destroyed my family.
8 rugae meae testimonium dicunt contra me et suscitatur falsiloquus adversus faciem meam contradicens mihi
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].
9 collegit furorem suum in me et comminans mihi infremuit contra me dentibus suis hostis meus terribilibus oculis me intuitus est
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.
10 aperuerunt super me ora sua exprobrantes percusserunt maxillam meam satiati sunt poenis meis
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.
11 conclusit me Deus apud iniquum et manibus impiorum me tradidit
[It is as though] God has handed me over to ungodly people and turned me over to the wicked [DOU].
12 ego ille quondam opulentus repente contritus sum tenuit cervicem meam confregit me et posuit sibi quasi in signum
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;
13 circumdedit me lanceis suis convulneravit lumbos meos non pepercit et effudit in terra viscera mea
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.
14 concidit me vulnere super vulnus inruit in me quasi gigans
[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].
15 saccum consui super cutem meam et operui cinere cornu meum
[“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.
16 facies mea intumuit a fletu et palpebrae meae caligaverunt
My face is red because I have cried very much, and there are dark circles around my eyes.
17 haec passus sum absque iniquitate manus meae cum haberem mundas ad Deum preces
[All this has happened to me] even though I have not acted violently [toward anyone], and I [always] pray sincerely/honestly [to God].
18 terra ne operias sanguinem meum neque inveniat locum in te latendi clamor meus
[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.
19 ecce enim in caelo testis meus et conscius meus in excelsis
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.
20 verbosi mei amici mei ad Deum stillat oculus meus
My [three] friends scorn/ridicule me, but my eyes are full of tears [while I cry out] to God.
21 atque utinam sic iudicaretur vir cum Deo quomodo iudicatur filius hominis cum collega suo
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.
22 ecce enim breves anni transeunt et semitam per quam non revertar ambulo
[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.”
