Job 16
International Standard Version
Job Reasons with Eliphaz
16 In response, Job said:
2 “I’ve heard many things like this.
What miserable comforters you all are!
3 Will windy words like yours never end?
What is upsetting you that you keep on arguing?
4 “I could also talk like you
if only you were in my place!
Then I would put together an argument[a] against you.
I would shake my head at you
5 and encourage you with what I have to say;[b]
my words of comfort would lessen your pain.
6 “But if I speak, my pain isn’t assuaged;
if I refrain from speaking, what do I have to lose?”
Job Claims of God’s Mistreatment
7 “God[c] has certainly worn me out;
you devastated my entire world.[d]
8 You’ve arrested me, making me testify against myself!
My leanness rises up to attack me, accusing[e] me to my face.
9 His anger tears me in his persistent resentment against me;
he gnashes his teeth at me.
My adversary glares[f] at me.
10 People gaped at me with mouths wide open;
they slap me in their scorn
and gather together against me.
11 God has delivered me over to the ungodly,
throwing me into the control of the wicked.
12 “He tore me apart when I was at ease;
grabbing me by my neck, he shook me to pieces—
then he really made me his target.
13 His archers surround me,
slashing open my kidneys without pity;
he pours out my gall on the ground.
14 Attack follows attack as he breaks through my defenses!
He runs over me like a mighty warrior.
15 “I’ve even sewn sackcloth directly to my skin;
I’ve buried my strength[g] in the dust.
16 My face is red from my tears,
and dark shadows encircle my eyelids,
17 even though violence is not my intention,
and my prayer is pure.”
Job Appeals to Witnesses
18 “Listen, earth! Don’t cover my blood,
for my outcry has no place to rest.
19 Even now, behold! I have a witness in heaven,
my Advocate is on high.
20 My friends mock me,
while my eyes overflow with tears to God,
21 crying for him to arbitrate between this[h] man and God;
as a human being does with his fellow neighbor.
22 For when only a few years have elapsed,
I’ll start down a path from which I’ll never return.”
Job 16
The Voice
16 Then Job reiterated his innocence.
2 Job: All the things from you sound the same.
You are all terrible as comforters!
3 Have we reached the end of your windy words,
or are you sick with something that compels you to argue with me?
4 If we were to trade places,
I could rattle on as you do.
I could compose eloquent speeches as you do
and shake my head smugly at you and your problems.
5 But I believe I would use my words to encourage you;
my lips would move only to offer you relief.
6 And yet, I am not you, you are not me,
and my words are of no real use:
When I speak, my pain is not relieved;
if I remain silent, it does not go away.
7 God has drained me utterly;
He has made those near to me desolate—killed my family and my servants.
8 You have shriveled me up;
my withered form stands as a witness against me;
my body, haggard and thin, testifies to my face.
9 In anger He hunts me down and tears at me;
in rancor His teeth grind on my flesh;
His eyes are locked on me as a foe,
eager to destroy still more of me.
10 My foes taunt me, their mouths gape in derision,
they slap my cheek in disgust, and they conspire against me.
11 God has forsaken me to young thugs
and flung me into the hands of evildoers who lie in wait for me.
12 I was living a good life—a quiet, peaceful life—
when He began to beat on me;
He throttled my neck, tore me apart,
and then propped me up
at the far end of the field, making me a target.
13 His archers have now gathered around me.
In cold blood He splits my belly open and spills my bile on the earth.
14 He charged like a soldier storming a stronghold
until my walls were breached, broken down, one after another.
Job in his despair and frustration responds as he and his friends have been taught by previous generations to display grief: by donning sackcloth and covering the head with dust to show devastation, as if everything has been lost even to the point of death.
15 Job: Well, I have sewed the sackcloth to my very skin
and buried my mighty forehead in the dirt.
16 My face, red and hot, boils over in tears;
the shadow of darkness lies heavy on my eyelids,
17 No matter that my hands are free of violence,
and my prayer is pure.
18 O earth, do not conceal my blood!
And when they seek to silence my cry, refuse a place for its burial.
19 Look! Even at this very moment, my witness is there, in heaven;
my advocate is seated on high.
20 My only friends scoff at me; they persist in mocking me;
even now my eyes well up in tears to God,
21 Appealing to God as a mere man,
as a human being might for the sake of his friend.
22 Only a few years left now,
and I will go down the path from which I cannot return.
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The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.