Job’s Reply to Eliphaz

16 Then Job answered:

2 I have heard many things like these.

You are all miserable comforters. x

3 Is there no end to your empty y z 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. a

6 Even if I speak, my suffering is not relieved,

and if I hold back, what have I lost?

7 Surely He b has now exhausted me.

You have devastated my entire family.

8 You have shriveled me up c—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 d 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; e

they join themselves together against me.

11 God hands me over to unjust men; f

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; g

13 His archers h surround me.

He pierces my kidneys without mercy

and pours my bile on the ground.

14 He breaks through my defenses again and again; i

He charges at me like a warrior. j

15 I have sewn * sackcloth over my skin;

I have buried my strength k in the dust. l

16 My face has grown red with weeping,

and darkness m covers my eyes,

17 although my hands are free from violence n

and my prayer is pure.

18 Earth, do not cover my blood;

may my cry for help find no resting place. o

19 Even now my witness is in heaven,

and my advocate is in the heights! p

20 My friends scoff at me

as I weep before God.

21 I wish that someone might arbitrate

between a man and God q

just as a * man pleads for his friend.

22 For only a few years will pass

before I go the way of no return.