Job 16
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
16 Then Job answered,
2 I have heard many such things; wearisome and miserable comforters are you all!
3 Will your futile words of wind have no end? Or what makes you so bold to answer [me like this]?
4 I also could speak as you do, if you were in my stead; I could join words together against you and shake my head at you.
5 [But] I would strengthen and encourage you with [the words of] my mouth, and the consolation of my lips would soothe your suffering.
6 If I speak [to you miserable comforters], my sorrow is not soothed or lessened; and if I refrain [from speaking], in what way am I eased? [I hardly know whether to answer you or be silent.]
7 But now [God] has taken away my strength. You [O Lord] have made desolate all my family and associates.
8 You have laid firm hold on me and have shriveled me up, which is a witness against me; and my leanness [and wretched state of body] are further evidence [against me]; [they] testify to my face.
9 [[a]My adversary Satan] has torn [me] in his wrath and hated and persecuted me; he has gnashed upon me with his teeth; my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.
10 [The forces of evil] have gaped at me with their mouths; they have struck me upon the cheek insolently; they massed themselves together and conspired unanimously against me.(A)
11 God has delivered me to the ungodly (to the evil one) and cast me [headlong] into the hands of the wicked (Satan’s host).
12 I was living at ease, but [Satan] crushed me and broke me apart; yes, he seized me by the neck and dashed me in pieces; then he set me up for his target.
13 [Satan’s] arrows whiz around me. He slashes open my vitals and does not spare; he pours out my gall on the ground.
14 [Satan] stabs me, making breach after breach and attacking again and again; he runs at me like a giant and irresistible warrior.
15 I have sewed sackcloth over my skin [as a sign of mourning] and have defiled my horn (my insignia of strength) in the dust.
16 My face is red and swollen with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death [my eyes are dimmed],
17 Although there is no guilt or violence in my hands and my prayer is pure.
18 O earth, cover not my blood, and let my cry have no resting-place [where it will cease being heard].
19 Even now, behold, my Witness is in heaven, and He who vouches for me is on high.(B)
20 My friends scorn me, but my eye pours out tears to God.
21 Oh, that there might be one who would plead for a man with God and that he would maintain his right with Him, as a son of man pleads with or for his neighbor!(C)
22 For when a few years are come, I shall go the way from which I shall not return.
Footnotes
- Job 16:9 The next six verses leave the casual reader at a loss to know of whom Job is speaking—of God, of Eliphaz, or of Satan, each of whom has been the choice of various translators and commentators. But careful study of the text itself, particularly the eleventh verse, seems to leave no question that while Job is blaming God for abandoning him to Satanic forces, nevertheless the monstrous, appalling, and disgusting behavior which Job describes is by him being attributed to Satan himself. Verse eleven in any translation seems to reveal what the reader has known all along but which Job only now sees. He still does not understand God’s motive, but he is facing the facts as they are: he is at the mercy of Satan! But God’s thrilling and rewarding motive is still unknown to him.
Job 16
New King James Version
Job Reproaches His Pitiless Friends
16 Then Job answered and said:
2 “I have heard many such things;
(A)Miserable[a] comforters are you all!
3 Shall [b]words of wind have an end?
Or what provokes you that you answer?
4 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;
5 But I would strengthen you with my mouth,
And the comfort of my lips would relieve your grief.
6 “Though I speak, my grief is not relieved;
And if I remain silent, how am I eased?
7 But now He has (C)worn me out;
You (D)have made desolate all my company.
8 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.
9 (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.
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
