Job 16–17

Job’s Reply

16Job replied,

²“I’ve heard many of those things before.

You are terrible at comforting me!

³Your speeches go on forever.

Won’t they ever end?

What’s wrong with you?

Why do you keep on arguing?

⁴If you and I changed places,

I could say the same things you are saying.

I could make fine speeches against you.

I could shake my head at you.

⁵But what I might say would give you hope.

My words of comfort would help you.

⁶“If I speak, it doesn’t help me.

And if I keep quiet, my pain doesn’t go away.

⁷God has worn me out completely.

He has destroyed my whole family.

⁸People can see the condition he has put me in.

My thin body stands as a witness against me.

⁹God is angry with me.

He attacks me and tears me up.

He grinds his teeth at me.

He stares at me as if he were my enemy.

¹⁰People make fun of me.

They slap my face and laugh at me.

All of them join together against me.

¹¹God has turned me over to sinful people.

He has handed me over to them.

¹²Everything was going well with me.

But he broke me into pieces like a clay pot.

He grabbed me by the neck and crushed me.

He has taken aim at me.

¹³He shoots his arrows at me from all sides.

Without pity, he stabs me in the kidneys.

He spills my insides on the ground.

¹⁴He smashes through me as if I were a wall.

He rushes at me like a fighting man.

¹⁵“I’ve sewed black cloth over my skin.

All I can do is sit here in the dust.

¹⁶My face is red from crying.

I have deep circles under my eyes.

¹⁷But I haven’t harmed anyone.

My prayers to God are pure.

¹⁸“Earth, please don’t cover up my blood!

May God always hear my cry for help!

¹⁹Even now my witness is in heaven.

The one who speaks up for me is there.

²⁰My go-between is my friend

as I pour out my tears to God.

²¹He makes his appeal to God to help me

as a man begs someone to help his friend.

²²“Only a few years will pass by.

Then I’ll go on a journey I won’t return from.

17My strength is almost gone.

I won’t live much longer.

A grave is waiting for me.

²People who make fun of me are all around me.

I’m forced to watch as they attack me with their words.

³“God, please pay the price to have me set free.

Who else would put up money for me?

⁴You have closed the minds of those who are trying to comfort me.

They don’t understand that I haven’t done anything wrong.

So don’t let them win the argument.

⁵Suppose a man tells lies about his friends to get a reward.

Then his own children will suffer for it.

⁶“God has made everyone laugh at me.

People spit in my face.

⁷My eyes have grown weak because I’m so sad.

My body is so thin it hardly casts a shadow.

⁸Those who claim to be honest

are shocked when they see me.

Those who think they haven’t sinned

are stirred up against me.

They think I’m ungodly.

⁹But godly people will keep doing what is right.

Those who have clean hands will grow stronger.

¹⁰“Come on, all of you! Try again!

I can’t find a wise person among you.

¹¹My life is almost over. My plans are destroyed.

And so are the longings of my heart.

¹²People like you turn night into day.

Even though it’s dark you say,

‘Light is nearby.’

¹³Suppose the only home I can hope for is a grave.

And suppose I make my bed in the darkness of death.

¹⁴Suppose I say to the grave,

‘You are like a father to me.’

And suppose I say to its worms,

‘You are like a mother or sister to me.’

¹⁵Then what hope do I have?

Who can give me any hope?

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

Will we go down together into the dust of the grave?”