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16 1-2 I have heard words like that before;
    the comfort you give is only torment.
Are you going to keep on talking forever?
    Do you always have to have the last word?
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.
I could strengthen you with advice
    and keep talking to comfort you.

But nothing I say helps,
    and being silent does not calm my pain.
You have worn me out, God;
    you have let my family be killed.
    You have seized me; you are my enemy.
I am skin and bones,
    and people take that as proof of my guilt.[a]

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

  1. Job 16:8 Verses 7-8 in Hebrew are unclear.

约伯责友之慰藉反增苦恼

16 约伯回答说: “这样的话我听了许多。你们安慰人,反叫人愁烦。 虚空的言语有穷尽吗?有什么话惹动你回答呢? 我也能说你们那样的话,你们若处在我的境遇,我也会联络言语攻击你们,又能向你们摇头。 但我必用口坚固你们,用嘴消解你们的忧愁。

历言其忧苦难堪

“我虽说话,忧愁仍不得消解。我虽停住不说,忧愁就离开我吗? 但现在神使我困倦,使亲友远离我, 又抓住我,做见证攻击我。我身体的枯瘦,也当面见证我的不是。 主发怒撕裂我,逼迫我,向我切齿;我的敌人怒目看我。 10 他们向我开口,打我的脸羞辱我,聚会攻击我。 11 神把我交给不敬虔的人,把我扔到恶人的手中。 12 我素来安逸,他折断我,掐住我的颈项,把我摔碎,又立我为他的箭靶子。 13 他的弓箭手四面围绕我,他破裂我的肺腑,并不留情,把我的胆倾倒在地上; 14 将我破裂又破裂,如同勇士向我直闯。 15 我缝麻布在我皮肤上,把我的角放在尘土中。 16 我的脸因哭泣发紫,在我的眼皮上有死荫。 17 我的手中却无强暴,我的祈祷也是清洁。

向神哀诉

18 “地啊,不要遮盖我的血!不要阻挡我的哀求! 19 现今,在天有我的见证,在上有我的中保。 20 我的朋友讥诮我,我却向神眼泪汪汪。 21 愿人得与神辩白,如同人与朋友辩白一样! 22 因为再过几年,我必走那往而不返之路。

Job

16 Then Job replied:

“I have heard many things like these;
    you are miserable comforters,(A) all of you!(B)
Will your long-winded speeches never end?(C)
    What ails you that you keep on arguing?(D)
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.
But my mouth would encourage you;
    comfort(F) from my lips would bring you relief.(G)

“Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved;
    and if I refrain, it does not go away.(H)
Surely, God, you have worn me out;(I)
    you have devastated my entire household.(J)
You have shriveled me up—and it has become a witness;
    my gauntness(K) rises up and testifies against me.(L)
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

  1. Job 16:20 Or My friends treat me with scorn

Job Reproaches His Pitiless Friends

16 Then Job answered and said:

“I have heard many such things;
(A)Miserable[a] comforters are you all!
Shall [b]words of wind have an end?
Or what provokes you that you answer?
I also could speak as you do,
If your soul were in my soul’s place.
I could heap up words against you,
And (B)shake my head at you;
But I would strengthen you with my mouth,
And the comfort of my lips would relieve your grief.

“Though I speak, my grief is not relieved;
And if I remain silent, how am I eased?
But now He has (C)worn me out;
You (D)have made desolate all my company.
You have shriveled me up,
And it is a (E)witness against me;
My leanness rises up against me
And bears witness to my face.
(F)He tears me in His wrath, and hates me;
He gnashes at me with His teeth;
(G)My adversary sharpens His gaze on me.
10 They (H)gape at me with their mouth,
They (I)strike me reproachfully on the cheek,
They gather together against me.
11 God (J)has delivered me to the ungodly,
And turned me over to the hands of the wicked.
12 I was at ease, but He has (K)shattered me;
He also has taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces;
He has (L)set me up for His target,
13 His archers surround me.
He pierces my [c]heart and does not pity;
He pours out my gall on the ground.
14 He breaks me with wound upon wound;
He runs at me like a [d]warrior.

15 “I have sewn sackcloth over my skin,
And (M)laid my [e]head in the dust.
16 My face is [f]flushed from weeping,
And on my eyelids is the shadow of death;
17 Although no violence is in my hands,
And my prayer is pure.

18 “O earth, do not cover my blood,
And (N)let my cry have no resting place!
19 Surely even now (O)my witness is in heaven,
And my evidence is on high.
20 My friends scorn me;
My eyes pour out tears to God.
21 (P)Oh, that one might plead for a man with God,
As a man pleads for his [g]neighbor!
22 For when a few years are finished,
I shall (Q)go the way of no return.

Footnotes

  1. Job 16:2 Troublesome
  2. Job 16:3 Empty words
  3. Job 16:13 Lit. kidneys
  4. Job 16:14 Vg. giant
  5. Job 16:15 Lit. horn
  6. Job 16:16 Lit. red
  7. Job 16:21 friend