Job 16

Round Two: Job's First Speech:

You are miserable comforters

but God is my Witness

¹Job responded:

²I have heard many things just like these.

You are miserable comforters, all of you!

³Is there any end to your windy words?

What provokes you to respond like this?

⁴I also could speak just like you,

if your lives were in the same condition that my life is.

I could weave fancy words against you

and shake my head at you.

⁵But instead, I would build you up with the words from my mouth,

and comforting words from my lips would ease your pain.

⁶Now if I speak up, it does not lessen my pain,

and if I hold back, how much of my pain goes away?

⁷Surely, he has worn me out![#16:7 The reading follows the Hebrew text. It refers to God. Hebrew poetry sometimes alternates between third and second person pronouns, as is the case here.]

You have devastated everyone close to me.

⁸You have made me shrivel up,[#16:8 The meaning of this verb is uncertain.]

and this testifies against me.

My emaciated body stands up

and is a witness against me.

⁹His anger has torn me.

He has been hostile to me.

He has gnashed his teeth at me.

My opponent glares at me with piercing eyes.

¹⁰People have opened their mouths wide against me.

They have slapped my face with contempt.

They have ganged up on me.

¹¹God hands me over to evil people.[#16:11 The reading follows the ancient versions. The Hebrew reads a boy .]

He throws me into the hands of the wicked.

¹²When I was at ease, he shattered me.[#16:12 Or tossed me about]

He seized me by the neck and has ripped me to pieces.

He has set me up as his target.

¹³His archers surround me.

He pierces my kidneys and has no pity.

He pours out my bile on the earth.

¹⁴He breaks down my walls in many places.

He runs against me like a warrior.

¹⁵I have stitched sackcloth to my skin.

My horn is stuck in the dust.

¹⁶My face is red from my weeping.

There are dark circles under my eyes,

¹⁷even though there is no violence in my hands,

and my prayer is pure.

¹⁸O earth, do not cover my blood.

Let my cry never find a place to rest.

¹⁹Even now, my witness is in heaven.

My advocate is on high.

²⁰My intercessor is my friend.

My eyes never stop weeping to God.

²¹My intercessor pleads with God for a man,

as another human pleads for his friend.

²²A few more years will come.

Then I will go the way of no return.