Job

16 Then Job replied:

2 “I have heard many things like these;

you are miserable comforters,l all of you!m

3 Will your long-winded speeches never end?n

What ails you that you keep on arguing?o

4 I also could speak like you,

if you were in my place;

I could make fine speeches against you

and shake my headp at you.

5 But my mouth would encourage you;

comfortq from my lips would bring you relief.r

6 “Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved;

and if I refrain, it does not go away.s

7 Surely, God, you have worn me out;t

you have devastated my entire household.u

8 You have shriveled me up—and it has become a witness;

my gauntnessv rises up and testifies against me.w

9 God assails me and tearsx me in his angery

and gnashes his teeth at me;z

my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes.a

10 People open their mouthsb to jeer at me;c

they strike my cheekd in scorn

and unite together against me.e

11 God has turned me over to the ungodly

and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked.f

12 All was well with me, but he shattered me;

he seized me by the neck and crushed me.g

He has made me his target;h

13 his archers surround me.i

Without pity, he piercesj my kidneys

and spills my gall on the ground.

14 Again and againk he bursts upon me;

he rushes at me like a warrior.l

15 “I have sewed sackclothm over my skin

and buried my brow in the dust.n

16 My face is red with weeping,o

dark shadows ring my eyes;p

17 yet my hands have been free of violenceq

and my prayer is pure.r

18 “Earth, do not cover my blood;s

may my cryt never be laid to rest!u

19 Even now my witnessv is in heaven;w

my advocate is on high.x

20 My intercessory is my frienda z

as my eyes pour outa tearsb to God;

21 on behalf of a man he pleadsc with God

as one pleads for a friend.

22 “Only a few years will pass

before I take the path of no return.d