Job 16

Job Says Friends Are Miserable Comforters

1 Then Job responded,

2 “I have heard many things like these;
▼

▼Lit Comforters of trouble

, ^bMiserable comforters are you all!
3 “Is there no end to ^cwindy words?
Or what provokes you that you answer?
4 “I too could speak like you,
If only ▼

▼Lit your soul were in place of my soul

I were in your place.
I could compose words against you
And ^eshake my head at you.
5 “Or I could strengthen you with my mouth,
And the condolence of my lips could lessen your pain.

Job Says God Shattered Him

6 “If I speak, ^fmy pain is not lessened,
And if I refrain, what pain leaves me?
7 “But now He has ^gexhausted me;
You have laid ^hwaste all my group of loved ones.
8 “And you have shriveled me up,
▼

▼I.e., Job’s condition

, ^jIt has become a witness;
And my ^kinfirmity rises up against me,
It testifies to my face.
9 “His anger has ^ltorn me and ▼

▼Lit borne a grudge against me

hunted me down,
He has ⁿgnashed at me with His teeth;
My ^oenemy ▼

▼Lit sharpens his eyes

glares at me.
10 “They have ^qgaped at me with their mouths,
They have ▼

▼Lit struck

, ^sslapped me on the cheek with contempt;
They have ^tmassed themselves against me.
11 “God hands me over to criminals,
And tosses me into the hands of the wicked.
12 “I was at ease, but ^uHe shattered me,
And He has grasped me by my neck and shaken me to pieces;
He has also set me up as His ^vtarget.
13 “His ^warrows surround me.
He splits my kidneys open without mercy;
He pours out ^xmy bile on the ground.
14 “He ^ybreaks through me with breach after breach;
He ^zruns at me like a warrior.
15 “I have sewed ^aasackcloth over my skin,
And ^abthrust my horn in the dust.
16 “My face is flushed from ^acweeping,
^adAnd deep darkness is on my eyelids,
17 Although there is no ^aeviolence in my hands,
And ^afmy prayer is pure.

18 “Earth, do not cover my blood,
And may there be no resting place for my cry.
19 “Even now, behold, ^agmy witness is in heaven,
And my ▼

▼Or witness

advocate is ^aion high.
20 “My friends are my scoffers;
^ajMy eye weeps to God,
21 That one might plead for a man with God
As a son of man with his neighbor!
22 “For when a few years are past,
I shall go the way ^akof no return.