Job 16:8–17:9

⁸And thou hast laid fast hold on me, which is a witness against me:

And my leanness riseth up against me,

It testifieth to my face.

⁹He hath torn me in his wrath, and persecuted me;

He hath gnashed upon me with his teeth:

Mine adversary sharpeneth his eyes upon me.

¹⁰They have gaped upon me with their mouth;

They have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully:

They gather themselves together against me.

¹¹God delivereth me to the ungodly,

And casteth me into the hands of the wicked.

¹²I was at ease, and he brake me asunder;

Yea, he hath taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces:

He hath also set me up for his mark.

¹³His archers compass me round about;

He cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare;

He poureth out my gall upon the ground.

¹⁴He breaketh me with breach upon breach;

He runneth upon me like a giant.

¹⁵I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin,

And have laid my horn in the dust.

¹⁶My face is red with weeping,

And on my eyelids is the shadow of death;

¹⁷Although there is no violence in my hands,

And my prayer is pure.

¹⁸O earth, cover not thou my blood,

And let my cry have no resting-place.

¹⁹Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven,

And he that voucheth for me is on high.

²⁰My friends scoff at me:

But mine eye poureth out tears unto God,

²¹That he would maintain the right of a man with God,

And of a son of man with his neighbor!

²²For when a few years are come,

I shall go the way whence I shall not return.

17My spirit is consumed, my days are extinct,

The grave is ready for me.

²Surely there are mockers with me,

And mine eye dwelleth upon their provocation.

³Give now a pledge, be surety for me with thyself;

Who is there that will strike hands with me?

⁴For thou hast hid their heart from understanding:

Therefore shalt thou not exalt them.

⁵He that denounceth his friends for a prey,

Even the eyes of his children shall fail.

⁶But he hath made me a byword of the people;

And they spit in my face.

⁷Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow,

And all my members are as a shadow.

⁸Upright men shall be astonished at this,

And the innocent shall stir up himself against the godless.

⁹Yet shall the righteous hold on his way,

And he that hath clean hands shall wax stronger and stronger.