Job 16–17

16Then Job answered and said,

²I have heard many ^asuch things:

^||bMiserable comforters are ye all.

³Shall ^†vain words have an end?

Or what ^cemboldeneth thee that thou answerest?

⁴I also could speak as ye do:

If your soul were in my soul’s stead,

I could heap up words against you,

And ^dshake mine head at you.

⁵But I would strengthen you with my mouth,

And the moving of my lips should asswage ^eyour grief.

⁶Though I speak, my grief is not asswaged:

And though I forbear, ^†what am I eased?

⁷But now he hath made me weary:

Thou hast made desolate all ^fmy company.

⁸And thou hast ^gfilled me with wrinkles, which is a ^hwitness against me:

And my ^gileanness rising up in me

Beareth witness to my face.

^9kHe teareth me in his wrath, who ^lhateth me:

He ^mgnasheth upon me with his teeth;

Mine enemy ⁿsharpeneth his eyes upon me.

¹⁰They have ^ogaped upon me with their mouth;

They ^phave smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully;

They have gathered themselves together against me.

¹¹God ^†hath delivered me to the ^qungodly,

And ^rturned me over into the hands of the wicked.

¹²I was at ease, but he hath ^sbroken me asunder:

He hath also taken me by my neck, and ^tshaken me to pieces,

And set me up for his ^umark.

¹³His ^warchers compass me round about,

He cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare;

He ^xpoureth out my gall upon the ground.

¹⁴He breaketh me with ^ybreach upon breach,

He runneth upon me like a giant.

¹⁵I have sewed ^zsackcloth upon my ^gskin,

And ^adefiled my horn in the dust.

¹⁶My face ^bis foul with weeping,

And on my eyelids is ^cthe shadow of death;

^17dNot for any injustice in mine hands:

Also my prayer is pure.

¹⁸O earth, ^ecover not thou my blood,

And let ^fmy cry have no place.

¹⁹Also now, behold, ^gmy witness is in heaven,

And my record is ^†on high.

²⁰My friends ^†scorn me:

But mine eye poureth out tears unto God.

²¹O that one might ^hplead for a man with God,

As a man pleadeth for his ^||neighbour!

²²When ^†a few years are come,

Then I shall go the way whence I shall not return.

17^||My breath is corrupt,

My days are ^aextinct,

^bThe graves are ready for me.

²Are there not mockers with me?

And doth not mine eye ^†continue in their provocation?

³Lay down now, ^cput me in a surety with thee;

Who is he that ^dwill strike hands with me?

⁴For thou hast hid their heart from understanding:

Therefore shalt thou not exalt them.

⁵He that speaketh flattery to his friends,

Even ^ethe eyes of his children shall fail.

⁶He hath made me also ^fa byword of the people;

And ^||aforetime I was as a tabret.

^7gMine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow,

And all ^||my members are ^has a shadow.

⁸Upright men shall be ⁱastonied at this,

And the innocent shall ^jstir up himself against the hypocrite.

⁹The righteous also shall hold on his way,

And he that hath ^kclean hands ^†shall be stronger and stronger.

¹⁰But as for you all, ^ldo ye return, and come now:

For I cannot find one wise man among you.

^11mMy days are past,

My purposes are ⁿbroken off,

Even ^†the thoughts of my heart.

^12oThey change the night into day:

^pThe light is ^†short ^qbecause of darkness.

¹³If I wait, the grave is mine ^rhouse:

I have made my bed in the darkness.

¹⁴I have ^†said to corruption, Thou art my father:

To the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.

¹⁵And where is now my hope?

As for my hope, who shall see it?

¹⁶They shall go down to the ^sbars of the pit,

^tWhen our ^urest ^xtogether is in the dust.