Job 16
International Children’s Bible
Job Answers Eliphaz
16 Then Job answered:
2 “I have heard many things like these.
You are all painful comforters!
3 Will your long, useless speeches never end?
What makes you keep on arguing?
4 I also could speak as you do
if you were in my place.
I could make great speeches against you.
And I could shake my head at you.
5 But, instead, my words would encourage you.
I would speak words of comfort to bring you relief.
6 “But if I speak, my pain does not become less.
And if I don’t speak, it still does not go away.
7 God, you have surely taken away my strength.
You have destroyed my whole family.
8 You have made me thin and weak.
And people feel that this shows I have done wrong.
9 God attacks me and tears me with anger.
He grinds his teeth at me.
My enemy stares at me with his angry eyes.
10 People open their mouths to make fun of me.
They hit my cheeks to insult me.
They join together against me.
11 God has turned me over to evil men.
He has thrown me into the clutches of the wicked.
12 Everything was fine with me.
But then God broke me into pieces.
He held me by the neck and crushed me.
He has made me his target.
13 God’s archers surround me.
He stabs my kidneys and has no mercy.
He spills my blood on the ground.
14 Again and again God attacks me.
He runs at me like a soldier.
15 “I have sewed rough cloth over my skin to show my sadness.
I have buried my face in the dust.
16 My face is red from crying.
I have dark circles around my eyes.
17 And yet my hands have never done anything cruel.
And my prayer is pure.
18 “Earth, please do not cover up my blood.
Don’t let my cry ever stop being heard!
19 Even now I have one who speaks for me in heaven.
The one who is on my side is high above.
20 The one who speaks for me is my friend.
While he does this, my eyes pour out tears to God.
21 He begs God on behalf of a man
as a man begs for his friend.
22 “Only a few years will pass
before I go on the journey from which I cannot return.
Job 16
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Job Reaffirms His Innocence
16 Then Job answered:
2 “I have heard many such things;
miserable comforters are you all.
3 Have windy words no limit?
Or what provokes you that you keep on talking?(A)
4 I also could talk as you do,
if you were in my place;
I could join words together against you
and shake my head at you.(B)
5 I could encourage you with my mouth,
and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain.
6 “If I speak, my pain is not assuaged,
and if I refrain, how much of it leaves me?
7 Surely now God has worn me out;
he has[a] made desolate all my company.(C)
8 And he has[b] shriveled me up,
which is a witness against me;
my leanness has risen up against me,
and it testifies to my face.(D)
9 He has torn me in his wrath and hated me;
he has gnashed his teeth at me;
my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.(E)
10 They have gaped at me with their mouths;
they have struck me insolently on the cheek;
they mass themselves together against me.(F)
11 God gives me up to the evil
and casts me into the hands of the wicked.(G)
12 I was at ease, and he broke me in two;
he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces;
he set me up as his target;(H)
13 his archers surround me.
He slashes open my kidneys and shows no mercy;
he pours out my gall on the ground.(I)
14 He bursts upon me again and again;
he rushes at me like a warrior.(J)
15 I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin
and have laid my strength in the dust.(K)
16 My face is red with weeping,
and deep darkness is on my eyelids,
17 though there is no violence in my hands,
and my prayer is pure.(L)
18 “O earth, do not cover my blood;
let my outcry find no resting place.(M)
19 Even now my witness is in heaven,
and my advocate is on high.(N)
20 My friends scorn me;
my eye pours out tears to God,
21 that he would maintain the right of a mortal with God,
as[c] one does for a neighbor.(O)
22 For when a few years have come,
I shall go the way from which I shall not return.(P)
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
New Testament, Saral Hindi Bible (नए करार, सरल हिन्दी बाइबल) Copyright © 1978, 2009, 2016 by Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.