16
Job Says Friends Are Sorry Comforters
1 Then Job 1Lit answered and saidanswered,
2 “I have heard many such things;
1Lit Comforters of troubleAJob 13:4; 21:34Sorry comforters are you all.
Or what plagues you that you answer?
4 “I too could speak like you,
If 1Lit your soul were in place of my soulI were in your place.
I could compose words against you
And APs 22:7; 109:25; Zeph 2:15; Matt 27:39shake my head at you.
5 “I could strengthen you with my mouth,
And the solace of my lips could lessen your pain.
Job Says God Shattered Him
6 “If I speak, AJob 9:27, 28my pain is not lessened,
And if I hold back, what has left me?
7 “But now He has AJob 7:3exhausted me;
You have laid BJob 16:20; 19:13-15waste all my company.
8 “You have shriveled me up,
AJob 10:17It has become a witness;
And my BJob 19:20; Ps 109:24leanness rises up against me,
It testifies to my face.
He has BPs 35:16; Lam 2:16; Acts 7:54gnashed at me with His teeth;
My CJob 13:24; 33:10adversary 2Lit sharpens his eyesglares at me.
10 “They have APs 22:13gaped at me with their mouth,
They have 1Lit struckBIs 50:6; Lam 3:30; Acts 23:2slapped me on the cheek with contempt;
They have CJob 30:12; Ps 35:15massed themselves against me.
11 “God hands me over to ruffians
And tosses me into the hands of the wicked.
12 “I was at ease, but AJob 9:17He shattered me,
And He has grasped me by the neck and shaken me to pieces;
He has also set me up as His BJob 7:20; Lam 3:12target.
13 “His AJob 6:4; 19:12; 25:3arrows surround me.
Without mercy He splits my kidneys open;
He pours out BJob 20:25my gall on the ground.
14 “He AJob 9:17breaks through me with breach after breach;
He BJoel 2:7runs at me like a warrior.
15 “I have sewed AGen 37:34; Ps 69:11sackcloth over my skin
And BPs 7:5thrust my horn in the dust.
16 “My face is flushed from AJob 16:20weeping,
BJob 24:17And deep darkness is on my eyelids,
17 Although there is no AIs 59:6; Jon 3:8violence in my hands,
And BJob 27:4my prayer is pure.
18 “O earth, do not cover my blood,
And let there be no resting place for my cry.
19 “Even now, behold, AGen 31:50; Job 19:25-27; Rom 1:9; Phil 1:8; 1 Thess 2:5my witness is in heaven,
And my 1Or witnessadvocate is BJob 31:2on high.
20 “My friends are my scoffers;
21 “O that a man might plead with God
As a man with his neighbor!
22 “For when a few years are past,
I shall go the way AJob 3:13of no return.
116:1 Lit answered and said
116:2 Lit Comforters of trouble
116:4 Lit your soul were in place of my soul
A16:4 Ps 22:7; 109:25; Zeph 2:15; Matt 27:39
116:9 Lit borne a grudge against me
B16:9 Ps 35:16; Lam 2:16; Acts 7:54
216:9 Lit sharpens his eyes
116:10 Lit struck
B16:10 Is 50:6; Lam 3:30; Acts 23:2
A16:19 Gen 31:50; Job 19:25-27; Rom 1:9; Phil 1:8; 1 Thess 2:5
116:19 Or witness
116:20 Or drips