Job 16–17

16TH CHAPTER

Job Speaks:

My Friends Do Not Help Ease My Pain

¹Then Job replied ⸤to his friends⸥, 

²“I have heard many things like this before. 

You are all pathetic at comforting me. 

³Will ⸤your⸥ long-winded speeches never end? 

What disturbs you that you keep on answering ⸤me⸥? 

⁴I, too, could speak like you 

if we could trade places. 

I could string words together against you 

and shake my head at you. 

⁵I could encourage you with my mouth, 

and my quivering lips could ease ⸤your pain⸥. 

⁶If I speak, my pain is not eased. 

If I stop talking, how much of it will go away? 

⁷“But now, God has worn me out. 

You, ⸤God,⸥ have destroyed everyone who supports me. 

⁸You have shriveled me up, which itself is a witness ⸤against me⸥. 

My frail body rises up and testifies against me. 

Job Describes What God Has Done to Him

⁹“God’s anger tore me ⸤apart⸥ and attacked me. 

He gritted his teeth at me. 

My opponent looked sharply at me. 

¹⁰People ridiculed me with their mouths. 

They slapped my cheeks with contempt. 

They united against me. 

¹¹God handed me over to unjust people 

and threw me into the hands of wicked people. 

¹²I was at ease, and he shattered me. 

He grabbed me by the back of the neck and smashed ⸤my skull⸥. 

He set me up as his target, 

¹³and his archers surrounded me. 

He slashes open my kidneys without mercy 

and spills my blood^aon the ground. 

¹⁴He inflicts wound after wound on me. 

He lunges at me like a warrior. 

¹⁵“I have sewn sackcloth over my skin, 

and I have thrown my strength in the dust. 

¹⁶My face is red from crying, 

and dark shadows encircle my eyes, 

¹⁷although my hands have done nothing violent, 

and my prayer is sincere. 

Job Appeals His Case to Heaven

¹⁸“Earth, don’t cover my blood. 

Don’t ever let my cry ⸤for justice⸥ be stopped. 

¹⁹Even now, look! My witness is in heaven, 

and the one who testifies for me is above, 

²⁰the spokesman for my thoughts.^b

My eyes drip ⸤with tears⸥ to God 

²²because in a few short years I will take the path of no return.^c

²¹But my witness will plead for a human in front of God. 

The Son of Man will plead for his friend! 

17TH CHAPTER

Job Pleads with God to Declare Him Honest

¹“My spirit is broken. 

My days have been snuffed out. 

The cemetery ⸤is waiting⸥ for me. 

²Certainly, mockers are around me. 

My eyes are focused on their opposition. 

³Please guarantee my bail yourself. 

Who else will guarantee it with a handshake? 

⁴You have closed their minds so that they cannot understand. 

That is why you will not honor them. 

⁵(Whoever turns in friends to get their property 

should have his children’s eyesight fail.) 

Job Says to His Friends: I’m Still Wiser Than You

⁶“Now he has made me a laughingstock for many people. 

Now they spit in my face. 

⁷Now my eyes are blurred from grief. 

Now all my limbs are like a shadow. 

⁸Decent people are shocked by this, 

and it stirs up the innocent against godless people. 

⁹Yet, the righteous person clings to his way, 

and the one with clean hands grows stronger. 

¹⁰“But now, all of you, come and try again! 

I won’t find one wise man among you. 

¹¹My days are passing by. 

My plans are broken. 

My dreams ⸤are shattered⸥. 

¹²You say that night is day. 

Light has nearly become darkness. 

¹³If I look for the grave as my home 

and make my bed in the darkness, 

¹⁴if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father,’ 

and to the worm, ‘You are my mother and sister,’ 

¹⁵then where is my hope? 

Can you see any hope left in me? 

¹⁶Will hope go down with me to the gates of the grave? 

Will my hope rest with me in the dust?”