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Job Reaffirms His Innocence

16 Then Job answered:

“I have heard many such things;
    miserable comforters are you all.
Have windy words no limit?
    Or what provokes you that you keep on talking?(A)
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)
I could encourage you with my mouth,
    and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain.

“If I speak, my pain is not assuaged,
    and if I refrain, how much of it leaves me?

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Job’s Fifth Speech

16 Then[a] Job answered and said,

“I have heard many things like these;
all of you are miserable comforters.[b]
Is there a limit to windy words?
What provokes you that you answer?
I myself[c] also could talk as you,
if you were in my place;[d]
I could join against you with words,
and I could shake at you with my head.
I could[e] encourage you with my mouth,
and the solace of my lips would[f] ease the pain.
If I speak, my pain is not relieved;
and if I cease, how much will leave me?

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Footnotes

  1. Job 16:1 Hebrew “And”
  2. Job 16:2 Literally “comforters of trouble”
  3. Job 16:4 Emphatic personal pronoun;
  4. Job 16:4 Literally “there is your soul in place of my soul”
  5. Job 16:5 Or “would”
  6. Job 16:5 Or “should”