JobChapter 16

Tap any verse to comment or suggest a better wording.

¹Then Job answered: ²"I have heard many things like these.
You are all miserable comforters! ³Will your long speeches never end?
What makes you keep on arguing? ⁴I could talk like you if you were in my place.
I could pile up words against you.
I could shake my head at you. ⁵But I would encourage you with my words.
The comfort from my lips would ease your pain. ⁶Even if I speak, my pain doesn't get better.
And if I keep quiet, how will it go away? ⁷Surely God has now worn me out.
God, you have wiped out my whole family. ⁸You have tied me up, and that has become a witness against me.
My weak body stands up and speaks against me. ⁹His anger has torn me apart and fought against me.
He grinds his teeth at me.
My enemy stabs me with his eyes. ¹⁰People open their mouths wide against me.
They slap my cheeks to shame me.
They join together against me. ¹¹God has handed me over to unfair men.
He has thrown me into the hands of the wicked. ¹²I was at peace, but he smashed me.
He grabbed me by the neck and crushed me.
He has set me up as his target. ¹³His archers surround me.
He stabs my kidneys and shows no mercy.
He spills my gall on the ground. ¹⁴He breaks me with one wound after another.
He rushes at me like a mighty warrior. ¹⁵I have sewn sackcloth over my skin.
I have buried my horn in the dust.a ¹⁶My face is red from crying.
Dark shadows circle my eyes. ¹⁷Yet my hands have done nothing violent.
My prayer is pure. ¹⁸Earth, don't cover up my blood!
May my cry for help never be silenced. ¹⁹Even now my witness is in heaven.
The one who speaks up for me is on high. ²⁰My friends make fun of me,
while my eyes pour out tears to God. ²¹Oh, I wish a man could plead with God
the way a man pleads with his neighbor! ²²In only a few years
I will go on the road from which no one returns.