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Job 16
Good News Translation
Job 16
Good News Translation
16 1-2 I have heard words like that before;
the comfort you give is only torment.
3 Are you going to keep on talking forever?
Do you always have to have the last word?
4 If you were in my place and I in yours,
I could say everything you are saying.
I could shake my head wisely
and drown you with a flood of words.
5 I could strengthen you with advice
and keep talking to comfort you.
6 But nothing I say helps,
and being silent does not calm my pain.
7 You have worn me out, God;
you have let my family be killed.
8 You have seized me; you are my enemy.
I am skin and bones,
and people take that as proof of my guilt.[a]
9 In anger God tears me limb from limb;
he glares at me with hate.
10 People sneer at me;
they crowd around me and slap my face.
11 God has handed me over to evil people.
12 I was living in peace,
but God took me by the throat
and battered me and crushed me.
God uses me for target practice
13 and shoots arrows at me from every side—
arrows that pierce and wound me;
and even then he shows no pity.
14 He wounds me again and again;
he attacks like a soldier gone mad with hate.
15 I mourn and wear clothes made of sackcloth,
and I sit here in the dust defeated.
16 I have cried until my face is red,
and my eyes are swollen and circled with shadows,
17 but I am not guilty of any violence,
and my prayer to God is sincere.
18 O Earth, don't hide the wrongs done to me!
Don't let my call for justice be silenced!
19 (A)There is someone in heaven
to stand up for me and take my side.
20 My friends scorn me;
my eyes pour out tears to God.
21 I want someone to plead with God for me,
as one pleads for a friend.
22 My years are passing now,
and I walk the road of no return.
Footnotes
- Job 16:8 Verses 7-8 in Hebrew are unclear.
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
Job 16
King James Version
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.
Good News Translation (GNT) 
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.