Job 16

Job’s Reply to Eliphaz

1 Then Job answered:

2 I have heard many things like these.
You are all miserable comforters. ^a
3 Is there no end to your empty ^{▼▼Lit windy; Jb 15:2
,} ^c words?
What provokes you that you continue testifying?
4 If you were in my place I could also talk like you.
I could string words together against you
and shake my head at you.
5 Instead, I would encourage you with my mouth,
and the consolation from my lips would bring relief. ^d

6 Even if I speak, my suffering is not relieved,
and if I hold back, what have I lost?
7 Surely He ^{▼▼Or it} has now exhausted me.
You have devastated my entire family.
8 You have shriveled me up ^{▼▼Or have seized me; Hb obscure} – it has become a witness;
My frailty rises up against me and testifies to my face.
9 His anger tears at me, and He harasses ^g me.
He gnashes His teeth at me.
My enemy pierces me with His eyes.
10 They open their mouths against me
and strike my cheeks with contempt; ^h
they join themselves together against me.
11 God hands me over to unjust men; ^{▼▼LXX, Vg; MT reads to a boy}
He throws me into the hands of the wicked.
12 I was at ease, but He shattered me;
He seized me by the scruff of the neck
and smashed me to pieces.
He set me up as His target; ^j
13 His archers ^{▼▼Or arrows} surround me.
He pierces my kidneys without mercy
and pours my bile on the ground.
14 He breaks through my defenses again and again; ^{▼▼Lit through me, breach on breach}
He charges at me like a warrior. ^m

15 I have sewn ^{▼▼sackcloth: Garment made of poor quality material and worn as a sign of grief and mourning}sackcloth over my skin;
I have buried my strength ^{▼▼Lit horn} in the dust. ^p
16 My face has grown red with weeping,
and darkness ^q covers my eyes,
17 although my hands are free from violence ^r
and my prayer is pure.

18 Earth, do not cover my blood;
may my cry for help find no resting place. ^s
19 Even now my witness is in heaven,
and my advocate is in the heights! ^t
20 My friends scoff at me
as I weep before God.
21 I wish that someone might arbitrate
between a man and God ^u
just as a man pleads for his friend.
22 For only a few years will pass
before I go the way of no return.