Job 16–17

Job

16Then Job replied:

²“I have heard many things like these;

you are miserable comforters,^l all of you!^m

³Will your long-winded speeches never end?ⁿ

What ails you that you keep on arguing?^o

⁴I also could speak like you,

if you were in my place;

I could make fine speeches against you

and shake my head^p at you.

⁵But my mouth would encourage you;

comfort^q 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

⁷Surely, God, you have worn me out;^t

you have devastated my entire household.^u

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

my gauntness^v rises up and testifies against me.^w

⁹God assails me and tears^x me in his anger^y

and gnashes his teeth at me;^z

my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes.^a

¹⁰People open their mouths^b to jeer at me;^c

they strike my cheek^d in scorn

and unite together against me.^e

¹¹God has turned me over to the ungodly

and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked.^f

¹²All 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

¹³his archers surround me.ⁱ

Without pity, he pierces^j my kidneys

and spills my gall on the ground.

¹⁴Again and again^k he bursts upon me;

he rushes at me like a warrior.^l

¹⁵“I have sewed sackcloth^m over my skin

and buried my brow in the dust.ⁿ

¹⁶My face is red with weeping,^o

dark shadows ring my eyes;^p

¹⁷yet my hands have been free of violence^q

and my prayer is pure.^r

¹⁸“Earth, do not cover my blood;^s

may my cry^t never be laid to rest!^u

¹⁹Even now my witness^v is in heaven;^w

my advocate is on high.^x

²⁰My intercessor^y is my friend^az

as my eyes pour out^a tears^b to God;

²¹on behalf of a man he pleads^c with God

as one pleads for a friend.

²²“Only a few years will pass

before I take the path of no return.^d

17My spirit^e is broken,

my days are cut short,^f

the grave awaits me.^g

²Surely mockers^h surround me;ⁱ

my eyes must dwell on their hostility.

³“Give me, O God, the pledge you demand.^j

Who else will put up security^k for me?^l

⁴You have closed their minds to understanding;^m

therefore you will not let them triumph.

⁵If anyone denounces their friends for reward,ⁿ

the eyes of their children will fail.^o

⁶“God has made me a byword^p to everyone,^q

a man in whose face people spit.^r

⁷My eyes have grown dim with grief;^s

my whole frame is but a shadow.^t

⁸The upright are appalled at this;

the innocent are aroused^u against the ungodly.

⁹Nevertheless, the righteous^v will hold to their ways,

and those with clean hands^w will grow stronger.^x

¹⁰“But come on, all of you, try again!

I will not find a wise man among you.^y

¹¹My days have passed,^z my plans are shattered.

Yet the desires of my heart^a

¹²turn night into day;^b

in the face of the darkness light is near.^c

¹³If the only home I hope for is the grave,^d

if I spread out my bed^e in the realm of darkness,^f

¹⁴if I say to corruption,^g ‘You are my father,’

and to the worm,^h ‘My mother’ or ‘My sister,’

¹⁵where then is my hope—ⁱ

who can see any hope for me?^j

¹⁶Will it go down to the gates of death?^k

Will we descend together into the dust?”^l