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
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 16
Job’s Fourth Reply. 1 Then Job answered and said:
2 I have heard this sort of thing many times.(A)
Troublesome comforters, all of you!
3 Is there no end to windy words?
What sickness makes you rattle on?
4 I also could talk as you do,
were you in my place.
I could declaim over you,
or wag my head at you;
5 I could strengthen you with talk,
with mere chatter give relief.
6 If I speak, my pain is not relieved;
if I stop speaking, nothing changes.
7 But now he has exhausted me;
you have stunned all my companions.
8 You[a] have shriveled me up; it is a witness,
my gauntness rises up to testify against me;
9 His wrath tears and assails me,
he gnashes his teeth against me;
My enemy looks daggers at me.
10 They gape at me with their mouths;
They strike me on the cheek with insults;
they are all enlisted against me.
11 God has given me over to the impious;
into the hands of the wicked he has cast me.
12 I was in peace, but he dislodged me,
seized me by the neck, dashed me to pieces.
He has set me up for a target;
13 his arrows strike me from all directions.
He pierces my sides without mercy,
pours out my gall upon the ground.
14 He pierces me, thrust upon thrust,
rushes at me like a warrior.
15 I have sewn sackcloth on my skin,
laid my horn low in the dust.
16 My face is inflamed with weeping,
darkness covers my eyes,
17 Although my hands are free from violence,
and my prayer sincere.
18 O earth, do not cover my blood,
nor let my outcry come to rest![b]
19 Even now my witness[c] is in heaven,
my advocate is on high.
20 My friends it is who wrong me;
before God my eyes shed tears,
21 That justice may be done for a mortal with God:
as for a man with his neighbor.
22 For my years are numbered,
and I go the road of no return.
Footnotes
- 16:8 You: God. Job then describes in vv. 9–17 the savage treatment that he has received from God.
- 16:18 As the exposed blood of those who were unjustly slain cries to heaven for vengeance (Gn 4:10; Ez 24:6–9), so Job’s sufferings demand redress.
- 16:19 Witness: refers perhaps to God (is Job appealing to God against God?), or to a mediator (cf. 9:33), or to a personification of Job’s prayer.
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