Job 16

1 Job replied [to Eliphaz and the others: ]

Then Job answered,

2 “I have heard things like that before; all of you, [instead of helping me, ] are only causing me to feel more miserable.

“I have heard many such things. You are all miserable comforters!

3 Will your speeches, which are only hot air, never end [RHQ]? Eliphaz, what bothers/irritates you so much that you continue replying to me?

Shall vain words have an end? Or what provokes you that you answer?

4 If it were you [three and not I] who were suffering, I could say the things that you are saying; I could make great speeches [to criticize/condemn you], and I could shake my head at you [to ridicule you].

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,

5 But, [unlike all of you, ] with what I said [MTY] I would encourage you and try to cause your pain to be less.

but I would strengthen you with my mouth. The solace of my lips would relieve you.

6 “But now, if I talk, my pain does not decrease, and if I am silent, my pain still certainly does not [RHQ] go away.

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

7 God has now taken away all my strength, and he has destroyed my family.

But now, God, you have surely worn me out. You have made all my company desolate.

8 He has shriveled me up, and people think that shows that I [am a sinner]. And people see that I am only skin and bones, and they think that proves that I [am guilty].

You have shriveled me up. This is a witness against me. My leanness rises up against me. It testifies to my face.

9 Because God is very angry with me and hates me, [it is as though he is a wild animal that] [MET] has gnashed his teeth at me because he is my enemy.

He has torn me in his wrath and persecuted me. He has gnashed on me with his teeth. My adversary sharpens his eyes on me.

10 People gape/stare at me with their mouths open [to sneer at me]; they have struck me on the face/cheek to ridicule me, and they crowd around me to threaten me.

They have gaped on me with their mouth. They have struck me on the cheek reproachfully. They gather themselves together against me.

11 [It is as though] God has handed me over to ungodly people and turned me over to the wicked [DOU].

God delivers me to the ungodly, and casts me into the hands of the wicked.

12 Previously, I was living peacefully, but he crushed me; [it is as though] he grabbed my neck and smashed me to pieces. [It is as though] [MET] he set me up like a target;

I was at ease, and he broke me apart. Yes, he has taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces. He has also set me up for his target.

13 people are surrounding me [and shooting arrows at me]. His arrows pierce my kidneys and cause the bile [from my liver] to spill onto the ground, and God does not pity me at all.

His archers surround me. He splits my kidneys apart, and does not spare. He pours out my bile on the ground.

14 [It is as though] [MET] I am a wall that he is breaking through; he rushes at me like [SIM] a soldier [attacking his enemies].

He breaks me with breach on breach. He runs at me like a giant.

15 [“Because I am mourning, ] I wear pieces of rough cloth that I have sewed together, and I sit [here] in the dirt, very depressed/discouraged.

I have sewed sackcloth on my skin, and have thrust my horn in the dust.

16 My face is red because I have cried very much, and there are dark circles around my eyes.

My face is red with weeping. Deep darkness is on my eyelids,

17 [All this has happened to me] even though I have not acted violently [toward anyone], and I [always] pray sincerely/honestly [to God].

although there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure.

18 [When I die, ] I want the ground [APO] to [act as though I had been murdered and] cry out against those who killed me, and I do not want anyone to stop me while I am demanding [that God act justly toward] me.

“Earth, don’t cover my blood. Let my cry have no place to rest.

19 But even now, [I know that] there is someone in heaven who will testify for me, and he will say that what I have done is right.

Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven. He who vouches for me is on high.

20 My [three] friends scorn/ridicule me, but my eyes are full of tears [while I cry out] to God.

My friends scoff at me. My eyes pour out tears to God,

21 I pray that [the] one [who knows what I have done] would come to plead with God for me like people plead for their friends.

that he would maintain the right of a man with God, of a son of man with his neighbor!

22 [I say this because] within a few years [I will die]; I will walk along the [to the grave] from which I will never return.”

For when a few years have come, I will go the way of no return.