Job’s response

¹Then Job answered:

²I’ve heard many things like these.

All of you are sorry comforters.

³Will windy talk ever cease;

what bothers you that you must argue?

⁴In your situation I could speak like you;

I could put words together to oppose you,

shake my head over you.

⁵I could heap up words, strengthen you with my speech;

my trembling lips would be held in check.

⁶If I speak, my pain is not eased;

if I hold back, what have I lost?

The innocent are God’s targets

⁷Now God has surely worn me out.

You have destroyed my entire group,

⁸seized me, which became grounds for an accusation.[#16.8 Heb uncertain]

My leanness rises to bear witness against me.

⁹His anger tears me and afflicts me;

he slashes at me with his teeth.

My enemy pierces me with his eyes.

¹⁰They open their mouths at me

and strike my cheek in a taunt;

¹¹God delivers me to a criminal

and forces me into the hands of the wicked.

¹²I was at rest, but he shattered me,

seized me by the back of my neck,

dashed me into pieces;

¹³His archers surround me;

he cuts my kidneys open without pity and doesn’t care,

¹⁴bursts me open over and over,

¹⁵I’ve sewed rough cloth over my skin

and buried my dignity in the dust.

¹⁶My face is red from crying,

and dark gloom hangs on my eyelids.

¹⁷But there is no violence in my hands,

and my prayer is pure.

Lingering hope

¹⁸Earth, don’t cover my blood;

let my outcry never cease.

¹⁹Surely now my witness stands in heaven;

my advocate is on high;

²⁰my go-between, my friend.[#16.20 and are plural in Heb.]

While my eyes drip tears to God,

²¹let him plead with God for a human being,

like a person pleads for a friend.

²²A number of years will surely pass,

and then I’ll walk a path that I won’t return.