Job 16
New American Standard Bible
Job Says Friends Are Miserable Comforters
16 Then Job responded,
2 “I have heard many things like these;
[a](A)Miserable comforters are you all!
3 Is there no end to (B)windy words?
Or what provokes you that you answer?
4 I too could speak like you,
If only [b]I were in your place.
I could compose words against you
And (C)shake my head at you.
5 Or I could strengthen you with my mouth,
And the condolence of my lips could lessen your pain.
Job Says God Shattered Him
6 “If I speak, (D)my pain is not lessened,
And if I refrain, what pain leaves me?
7 But now He has (E)exhausted me;
You have laid (F)waste all my group of loved ones.
8 And you have shriveled me up,
[c](G)It has become a witness;
And my (H)infirmity rises up against me,
It testifies to my face.
9 His anger has (I)torn me and [d]hunted me down,
He has (J)gnashed at me with His teeth;
My (K)enemy [e]glares at me.
10 They have (L)gaped at me with their mouths,
They have [f](M)slapped me on the cheek with contempt;
They have (N)massed themselves against me.
11 God hands me over to criminals,
And tosses me into the hands of the wicked.
12 I was at ease, but (O)He shattered me,
And He has grasped me by my neck and shaken me to pieces;
He has also set me up as His (P)target.
13 His (Q)arrows surround me.
He splits my kidneys open without mercy;
He pours out (R)my bile on the ground.
14 He (S)breaks through me with breach after breach;
He (T)runs at me like a warrior.
15 I have sewed (U)sackcloth over my skin,
And (V)thrust my horn in the dust.
16 My face is flushed from (W)weeping,
(X)And deep darkness is on my eyelids,
17 Although there is no (Y)violence in my hands,
And (Z)my prayer is pure.
18 “Earth, do not cover my blood,
And may there be no resting place for my cry.
19 Even now, behold, (AA)my witness is in heaven,
And my [g]advocate is (AB)on high.
20 My friends are my scoffers;
(AC)My eye weeps to God,
21 That one might plead for a man with God
As a son of man with his neighbor!
22 For when a few years are past,
I shall go the way (AD)of no return.
Job 16
New Living Translation
Job’s Fifth Speech: A Response to Eliphaz
16 Then Job spoke again:
2 “I have heard all this before.
What miserable comforters you are!
3 Won’t you ever stop blowing hot air?
What makes you keep on talking?
4 I could say the same things if you were in my place.
I could spout off criticism and shake my head at you.
5 But if it were me, I would encourage you.
I would try to take away your grief.
6 Instead, I suffer if I defend myself,
and I suffer no less if I refuse to speak.
7 “O God, you have ground me down
and devastated my family.
8 As if to prove I have sinned, you’ve reduced me to skin and bones.
My gaunt flesh testifies against me.
9 God hates me and angrily tears me apart.
He snaps his teeth at me
and pierces me with his eyes.
10 People jeer and laugh at me.
They slap my cheek in contempt.
A mob gathers against me.
11 God has handed me over to sinners.
He has tossed me into the hands of the wicked.
12 “I was living quietly until he shattered me.
He took me by the neck and broke me in pieces.
Then he set me up as his target,
13 and now his archers surround me.
His arrows pierce me without mercy.
The ground is wet with my blood.[a]
14 Again and again he smashes against me,
charging at me like a warrior.
15 I wear burlap to show my grief.
My pride lies in the dust.
16 My eyes are red with weeping;
dark shadows circle my eyes.
17 Yet I have done no wrong,
and my prayer is pure.
18 “O earth, do not conceal my blood.
Let it cry out on my behalf.
19 Even now my witness is in heaven.
My advocate is there on high.
20 My friends scorn me,
but I pour out my tears to God.
21 I need someone to mediate between God and me,
as a person mediates between friends.
22 For soon I must go down that road
from which I will never return.
Footnotes
- 16:13 Hebrew my gall.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
