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Job 16
The Message
Job 16
The Message
Job Defends Himself
If You Were in My Shoes
16 1-5 Then Job defended himself:
“I’ve had all I can take of your talk.
What a bunch of miserable comforters!
Is there no end to your windbag speeches?
What’s your problem that you go on and on like this?
If you were in my shoes,
I could talk just like you.
I could put together a terrific tirade
and really let you have it.
But I’d never do that. I’d console and comfort,
make things better, not worse!
6-14 “When I speak up, I feel no better;
if I say nothing, that doesn’t help either.
I feel worn down.
God, you have wasted me totally—me and my family!
You’ve shriveled me like a dried prune,
showing the world that you’re against me.
My gaunt face stares back at me from the mirror,
a mute witness to your treatment of me.
Your anger tears at me,
your teeth rip me to shreds,
your eyes burn holes in me—God, my enemy!
People take one look at me and gasp.
Contemptuous, they slap me around
and gang up against me.
And God just stands there and lets them do it,
lets wicked people do what they want with me.
I was contentedly minding my business when God beat me up.
He grabbed me by the neck and threw me around.
He set me up as his target,
then rounded up archers to shoot at me.
Merciless, they shot me full of arrows;
bitter bile poured from my gut to the ground.
He burst in on me, onslaught after onslaught,
charging me like a mad bull.
15-17 “I sewed myself a shroud and wore it like a shirt;
I lay facedown in the dirt.
Now my face is blotched red from weeping;
look at the dark shadows under my eyes,
Even though I’ve never hurt a soul
and my prayers are sincere!
The One Who Represents Mortals Before God
18-22 “O Earth, don’t cover up the wrong done to me!
Don’t muffle my cry!
There must be Someone in heaven who knows the truth about me,
in highest heaven, some Attorney who can clear my name—
My Champion, my Friend,
while I’m weeping my eyes out before God.
I appeal to the One who represents mortals before God
as a neighbor stands up for a neighbor.
“Only a few years are left
before I set out on the road of no return.”
Job 16
New International Version
Job 16
New International Version
Job
16 Then Job replied:
2 “I have heard many things like these;
you are miserable comforters,(A) all of you!(B)
3 Will your long-winded speeches never end?(C)
What ails you that you keep on arguing?(D)
4 I also could speak like you,
if you were in my place;
I could make fine speeches against you
and shake my head(E) at you.
5 But my mouth would encourage you;
comfort(F) from my lips would bring you relief.(G)
6 “Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved;
and if I refrain, it does not go away.(H)
7 Surely, God, you have worn me out;(I)
you have devastated my entire household.(J)
8 You have shriveled me up—and it has become a witness;
my gauntness(K) rises up and testifies against me.(L)
9 God assails me and tears(M) me in his anger(N)
and gnashes his teeth at me;(O)
my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes.(P)
10 People open their mouths(Q) to jeer at me;(R)
they strike my cheek(S) in scorn
and unite together against me.(T)
11 God has turned me over to the ungodly
and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked.(U)
12 All was well with me, but he shattered me;
he seized me by the neck and crushed me.(V)
He has made me his target;(W)
13 his archers surround me.(X)
Without pity, he pierces(Y) my kidneys
and spills my gall on the ground.
14 Again and again(Z) he bursts upon me;
he rushes at me like a warrior.(AA)
15 “I have sewed sackcloth(AB) over my skin
and buried my brow in the dust.(AC)
16 My face is red with weeping,(AD)
dark shadows ring my eyes;(AE)
17 yet my hands have been free of violence(AF)
and my prayer is pure.(AG)
18 “Earth, do not cover my blood;(AH)
may my cry(AI) never be laid to rest!(AJ)
19 Even now my witness(AK) is in heaven;(AL)
my advocate is on high.(AM)
20 My intercessor(AN) is my friend[a](AO)
as my eyes pour out(AP) tears(AQ) to God;
21 on behalf of a man he pleads(AR) with God
as one pleads for a friend.
22 “Only a few years will pass
before I take the path of no return.(AS)
Footnotes
- Job 16:20 Or My friends treat me with scorn
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.