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16 Then Job answered,

“I have heard many such things.
    You are all miserable comforters!
Shall vain words 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 join words together against you,
    and shake my head at you,
but I would strengthen you with my mouth.
    The solace of my lips would relieve you.

“Though I speak, my grief is not subsided.
    Though I forbear, what am I eased?

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Job’s Reply to Eliphaz

16 Then Job answered:

I have heard many things like these.
You are all miserable comforters.(A)
Is there no end to your empty[a](B) words?
What provokes you that you continue testifying?
If you were in my place I could also talk like you.
I could string words together against you
and shake my head at you.
Instead, I would encourage you with my mouth,
and the consolation from my lips would bring relief.(C)

If I speak, my suffering is not relieved,
and if I hold back, does any of it leave me?

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Footnotes

  1. 16:3 Lit windy; Jb 15:2