Job 16:1-6

New International Reader's Version

² “I’ve heard many of these things before.
    All of you are terrible at comforting me!
³ Your speeches go on forever.
    Won’t they ever end?
What’s wrong with you?
    Why do you keep on arguing?
⁴ If you and I changed places,
    I could say the same things you are saying.
I could make fine speeches against you.
    I could shake my head at you.
⁵ But what I might say would give you hope.
    My words of comfort would help you.

⁶ “If I speak, it doesn’t help me.
    And if I keep quiet, my pain doesn’t go away.