Job 16
EasyEnglish Bible
Job replies to Eliphaz[a]
16 Then Job replied. This is what he said:
2 ‘I have heard all these things before.
You are not making my troubles any better.
You are making them worse!
3 Please stop speaking useless words.
Why do you talk to me like that?
4 If you were suffering like I am,
I could say the same things to you.
I could speak for a long time
about the wrong things that you have done.
I could shake my head
and laugh at you.
5 But, instead, I would help you to be strong.
I would say things to comfort you.
6 But now, if I speak,
my pain does not become any better.
If I stop speaking,
my pain continues to be there.
7 God, you have made me very weak.
You have destroyed my family.
8 You have taken hold of me.
Because of my troubles,
people think that I am guilty.
Because my body is so thin,
people think that I have done bad things.
9 God attacks me and he punishes me because he is angry.
He shows his anger like a wild animal.
He has become my enemy.
10 People insult me and they laugh at me.
They hit me on my face.
They all join together to attack me.
11 God has allowed evil men to take hold of me.
He has put me under the power of wicked men.
12 I was living in peace,
but then God destroyed me.
He took hold of my neck
and he shook me to pieces.
He decided to shoot his arrows at me.
13 His arrows come from all around me.
They go deep into my body
and my blood pours out on the ground.
But God still does not feel sorry for me.
14 He attacks me again and again.
He rushes to attack me like a strong fighter.
15 I have used sackcloth to make my clothes.[b]
I am no longer proud of my strength,
and I sit in the dust.
16 I have cried so much that my face is red.
There are dark circles around my eyes.
17 But I have not been cruel.
And when I pray, I speak honestly to God.
18 The earth should not hide my blood!
People should remember how I have suffered.
They should not forget that I asked for justice.
19 But even now, I know that I have a friend in heaven.
He knows that I am not guilty.
He speaks on my behalf.
20 My friends have turned against me.
I cry with many tears as I pray to God.
21 I need someone to speak to God on my behalf.
He should ask God not to punish me,
as someone might try to help his friends.
22 I only have a few more years to live.
I will die and I will never again return to this earth.
Footnotes
- 16:1 Now Job replies to his friends. Nothing that they have said has helped him. Job understands that God punishes bad people. He still thinks that God has not been fair to punish him. But he begins to think that perhaps God will help him. See Job 16:19; 17:3.
- 16:15 Sackcloth was not comfortable to wear. People wore sackcloth to show that they were very sad and upset.
Job 16
King James Version
16 Then Job answered and said,
2 I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all.
3 Shall vain words have an end? or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest?
4 I also could speak as ye do: if your soul were in my soul's stead, I could heap up words against you, and shake mine head at you.
5 But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should asswage your grief.
6 Though I speak, my grief is not asswaged: and though I forbear, what am I eased?
7 But now he hath made me weary: thou hast made desolate all my company.
8 And thou hast filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me: and my leanness rising up in me beareth witness to my face.
9 He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me: he gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me.
10 They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against me.
11 God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked.
12 I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder: he hath also taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark.
13 His archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground.
14 He breaketh me with breach upon breach, he runneth upon me like a giant.
15 I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and defiled my horn in the dust.
16 My face is foul with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death;
17 Not for any injustice in mine hands: also my prayer is pure.
18 O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place.
19 Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high.
20 My friends scorn me: but mine eye poureth out tears unto God.
21 O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour!
22 When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return.
EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2019 - Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved.