Job 16
16
Job Answers Eliphaz
1Then Job answered:
2“I have heard many things like these.
You are all painful comforters!
3Will your long, useless speeches never end?
What makes you keep on arguing?
4I also could speak as you do
if you were in my place.
I could make great speeches against you.
And I could shake my head at you.
5But, instead, my words would encourage you.
I would speak words of comfort to bring you relief.
6“But if I speak, my pain does not become less.
And if I don’t speak, it still does not go away.
7God, you have surely taken away my strength.
You have destroyed my whole family.
8You have made me thin and weak.
And people feel that this shows I have done wrong.
9God attacks me and tears me with anger.
He grinds his teeth at me.
My enemy stares at me with his angry eyes.
10People open their mouths to make fun of me.
They hit my cheeks to insult me.
They join together against me.
11God has turned me over to evil men.
He has thrown me into the clutches of the wicked.
12Everything was fine with me.
But then God broke me into pieces.
He held me by the neck and crushed me.
He has made me his target.
13God’s archers surround me.
He stabs my kidneys and has no mercy.
He spills my blood on the ground.
14Again and again God attacks me.
He runs at me like a soldier.
15“I have sewed rough cloth over my skin to show my sadness.
I have buried my face in the dust.
16My face is red from crying.
I have dark circles around my eyes.
17And yet my hands have never done anything cruel.
And my prayer is pure.
18“Earth, please do not cover up my blood.
Don’t let my cry ever stop being heard!
19Even now I have one who speaks for me in heaven.
The one who is on my side is high above.
20The one who speaks for me is my friend.
While he does this, my eyes pour out tears to God.
21He begs God on behalf of a man
as a man begs for his friend.
22“Only a few years will pass
before I go on the journey from which I cannot return.
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Job 16: ICB
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