Job 16-18

New International Reader's Version

² “I’ve heard many of these things before.
    All of you are terrible at comforting me!
³ Your speeches go on forever.
    Won’t they ever end?
What’s wrong with you?
    Why do you keep on arguing?
⁴ If you and I changed places,
    I could say the same things you are saying.
I could make fine speeches against you.
    I could shake my head at you.
⁵ But what I might say would give you hope.
    My words of comfort would help you.

⁶ “If I speak, it doesn’t help me.
    And if I keep quiet, my pain doesn’t go away.
⁷ God has worn me out completely.
    He has destroyed my whole family.
⁸ People can see the condition he has put me in.
    My thin body stands as a witness against me.
⁹ God is angry with me.
    He attacks me and tears me up.
He grinds his teeth at me.
    He stares at me as if he were my enemy.
¹⁰ People make fun of me.
    They slap my face and laugh at me.
    All of them join together against me.
¹¹ God has turned me over to sinful people.
    He has handed me over to them.
¹² Everything was going well with me.
    But he broke me into pieces like a clay pot.
    He grabbed me by the neck and crushed me.
He has taken aim at me.
¹³     He shoots his arrows at me from all sides.
Without pity, he stabs me in the kidneys.
    He spills my insides on the ground.
¹⁴ He smashes through me as if I were a wall.
    He rushes at me like a fighting man.

¹⁵ “I’ve sewed rough clothing over my skin.
    All I can do is sit here in the dust.
¹⁶ My face is red from crying.
    I have dark circles under my eyes.
¹⁷ But I haven’t harmed anyone.
    My prayers to God are pure.

¹⁸ “Earth, please don’t cover up my blood!
    May God always hear my cry for help!
¹⁹ Even now my witness is in heaven.
    The one who speaks up for me is there.
²⁰ My go-between is my friend
    as I pour out my tears to God.
²¹ He makes his appeal to God to help me
    as a person pleads for a friend.

²² “Only a few years will pass by.
    Then I’ll take the path of no return.

17 My strength is almost gone.
    I won’t live much longer.
    A grave is waiting for me.
² People who make fun of me are all around me.
    I’m forced to watch as they attack me with their words.

³ “God, please pay the price to have me set free.
    Who else would put up money for me?
⁴ You have closed the minds of those who are trying to comfort me.
    They don’t understand that I haven’t done anything wrong.
    So don’t let them win the argument.
⁵ Suppose someone tells lies about their friends to get a reward.
    Then their own children will suffer for it.

⁶ “God has made an example of me.
    People spit in my face.
⁷ My eyes have grown weak because I’m so sad.
    My body is so thin it hardly casts a shadow.
⁸ People who claim to be honest
    are shocked when they see me.
Those who think they haven’t sinned
    are stirred up against me.
    They think I’m ungodly.
⁹ But godly people will keep doing what is right.
    Those who have clean hands will grow stronger.

¹⁰ “Come on, all of you! Try again!
    I can’t find a wise person among you.
¹¹ My life is almost over. My plans are destroyed.
    Yet the desires of my heart
¹² turn night into day.
    Even though it’s dark,
    ‘Light is nearby.’
¹³ Suppose the only home I can hope for is a grave.
    And suppose I make my bed in the darkness of death.
¹⁴ Suppose I say to the grave,
    ‘You are like a father to me.’
And suppose I say to its worms,
    ‘You are like a mother or sister to me.’
¹⁵ Then what hope do I have?
    Who can give me any hope?
¹⁶ Will hope go down to the gates of death with me?
    Will we go down together into the dust of the grave?”

² “Job, when will you stop these speeches of yours?
    Be reasonable! Then we can talk.
³ Why do you look at us as if we were cattle?
    Why do you think of us as being stupid?
⁴ Your anger is tearing you to pieces.
    Does the earth have to be deserted just to prove you are right?
    Must all the rocks be moved from their places?

⁵ “The lamps of sinful people are blown out.
    Their flames will never burn again.
⁶ The lights in their tents become dark.
    The lamps beside those who are evil go out.
⁷ They walk more slowly than they used to.
    Their own evil plans make them fall.
⁸ Their feet take them into a net.
    They wander right into it.
⁹ A trap grabs hold of their heels.
    It refuses to let them go.
¹⁰ A trap lies in their path.
    A rope to catch them is hidden on the ground.
¹¹ Terrors alarm them on every side.
    They follow them every step of the way.
¹² Trouble would like to eat them up.
    Danger waits for them when they fall.
¹³ It eats away parts of their skin.
    Death itself feeds on their arms and legs.
¹⁴ They are torn away from the safety of their tents.
    They are marched off to the one who rules over death.
¹⁵ Fire races through their tents.
    Burning sulfur is scattered over their homes.
¹⁶ Their roots dry up under them.
    Their branches dry up above them.
¹⁷ No one on earth remembers them.
    Their names are forgotten in the land.
¹⁸ They are driven from light into the place of darkness.
    They are thrown out of the world.
¹⁹ Their family dies out among their people.
    No one is left where they used to live.
²⁰ What has happened to them shocks the people in the west.
    It terrifies the people in the east.
²¹ Now you know what the homes of sinners are like.
    Those who don’t know God live in places like that.”