Job 16:1–18:21
16 Thena Job answered and said,
2 “I have heard many things like these;
all of you are ⌊miserable comforters⌋.b
3 Is there a limit to windy words?
What provokes you that you answer?
4 I myselfc also could talk as you,
if ⌊you were in my place⌋;d
I could join against you with words,
and I could shake at you with my head.
5 I coulde encourage you with my mouth,
and the solace of my lips wouldf ease the pain.
6 If I speak, my pain is not relieved;
and if I cease, how much will leave me?
7 “Surely now he has worn me out;
youg have devastated all my company.
it became a witness.
And my leanness has risen up against me;
it testifies to my face.
9 His wrath has torn, and he has been hostile toward me;
he gnashed at me with his teeth.
My foe sharpens his eyes against me.
10 They gaped at me with their mouth;
they struck my cheeks with disgrace;
they have massed themselves together against me.
11 God delivers me to an evil one,
and he casts me into the hands of the wicked.
12 “I was at ease, thenj he broke me in two,
and he seized me by my neck;
thenk he shattered me
and set me up as a target for him.
he slashes open my kidneys, and he does not have compassion;
he pours out my gall on the ground.
14 He breached me ⌊breach upon breach⌋;l
he rushes at me like a warrior.
15 “I have sewed sackcloth on my skin,
and I have inserted ⌊my pride⌋m in the dust.
16 My face is red because of weeping,
and deep shadows are on my eyelids,
17 ⌊although⌋n violence is not on my hands,
and my prayer is pure.
18 “O earth, you should not cover my blood,
and let there be no placeo for my cry for help.
19 So now look, my witness is in the heavens,
and he who vouches for me is in the heights.
my eye pours out tears to God,
21 and it arguesp for a mortal with God,
and as ⌊a human⌋q for his friend.
22 Indeed, after ⌊a few years⌋r have come,
thens I will go the way from which I will not return.
17 “My spirit is pulled down; my days are extinguished;
the graveyard is for me.
2 ⌊Surely⌋a mockery is with me,
and my eye ⌊rests⌋b on their provocation.
3 Please lay down a pledge for me with yourself;
who is he who will give security for my hand?c
4 Indeed,d you have closed their mind from understanding;
therefore, you will not let them triumph.
5 He denounces friends for reward,
soe his children’s eyes will fail.
6 “And he has made me a proverb forf the peoples,
⌊and I am one before whom people spit⌋.g
7 And my eye has grown dim from grief,
and the limbs of my body are allh like a shadow.
8 The upright are appalled at this,
and the innocent excites himself over the godless.
9 Buti the righteous holds on to his way,
and ⌊he who has clean hands⌋j increases in strength.
10 Butk ⌊all of you must return⌋l—⌊please come⌋!m
Butn I shall not find a wise person among you.
11 “My days are past; my plans are broken down—
even the desires of my heart.
saying, ‘Light is ⌊near to darkness⌋.’o
13 If I hope for Sheol as my house,
if I spread my couch in the darkness,
14 if I call to the pit, ‘You are my father,’
to the maggot, ‘You are my mother orp my sister,’
15 whereq then is my hope?
And ⌊who will see my hope⌋?r
16 Will they go down to the bars of Sheol?
Or shall we descend together into the dust?”
18 Thena Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,
2 “⌊How long⌋b ⌊will youc hunt for words⌋?d
Consider,e and afterward we shall speak.
3 Why are we considered as animals?
Why are we taken asf stupid in yourg eyes?
4 “You who are tearing ⌊yourself⌋h in youri anger,
will the earth be forsaken because of you?j
Ork will the rock be removed from its place?
5 Furthermore,l the light of the wicked is put out,
and the flame of his fire will not shine.
6 The light becomes dark in his tent,
and his lamp above him is put out.
7 “⌊His strong steps⌋m are shortened,
and his own schemesn throw him down,
8 for he is thrust into a net by his feet,
and he walks into a pitfall.
9 A trap seizes him by the heel;
a snare takes hold of him.
10 His rope is hidden in the ground,
and his trap on the path.
11 “Sudden terrors terrify him all around,
and they chase him at his heels.
12 His wealth will become hunger,
and disaster is ready for his stumbling.
13 It consumes parts of his skin;
the firstborn of death consumes his limbs.
14 He is torn from his tent ⌊in which he trusted⌋,o
and it brought him to the king of terrors.
15 “⌊Nothing⌋p remains for him in his tent;
sulfur is scattered upon his dwelling place.
16 His roots dry up ⌊below⌋,q
and its branchesr wither away above.s
17 His remembrance perishes from the earth,
and there is not a name for him on the street.
18 “They thrust him from light into darkness,
and they drive him out from the world.
19 There is no offspring for him nort a descendant among his people,
and there is not a survivor in his abode.
20 Those of the west are appalled over ⌊his fate⌋,u
and those of the east ⌊are seized with horror⌋.v
21 Surely these are the dwellings of the godless,
and this is the dwelling place of him who knows not God.”