Job 16 — Legacy Standard Bible

Troublesome Comforters

16Then Job answered and said,

²“I have heard many such things;¹^,^aTroublesome comforters are you all.³“Is there no end to ^awindy words?Or what pains you that you answer?⁴“I too could speak like you,If your soul were in the place of my soul.I could compose words against youAnd ^ashake my head at you.⁵“I could encourage you with my mouth,And the solace of my lips could lessen your pain.⁶“If I speak, ^amy pain is not lessened,And if I cease, what will go forth from me?⁷“But now He has ^aexhausted me;You have made ^bdesolate all my company.⁸“You have shriveled me up,^aIt has become a witness;And my ^bleanness rises up against me,It answers to my face.⁹“His anger has ^atorn me and ¹hunted me down;He has ^bgnashed at me with His teeth;My ^cadversary sharpens his eyes to look at me.¹⁰“They have ^aopened their mouth wide at me;They have ^bstruck me on the cheek in reproach;They have ^cmassed themselves against me.¹¹“God hands me over to ruffiansAnd tosses me into the hands of the wicked.¹²“I was at ease, but ^aHe shattered me,And He has grasped me by the neck and shaken me to pieces;He has also set me up as His ^btarget.¹³“His ^aarrows surround me.Without mercy He splits my kidneys open;He pours out ^bmy gall on the ground.¹⁴“He ^abreaks through me with breach after breach;He ^bruns at me like a warrior.¹⁵“I have sewed ^asackcloth over my skinAnd ^bthrust my horn in the dust.¹⁶“My face is flushed from ^aweeping,^bAnd the shadow of death is on my eyelids,¹⁷Why?—because there is no ^aviolence in my hands,And ^bmy 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, ^amy witness is in heaven,And my ¹advocate is ^bon high.²⁰“My friends are my scoffers;^aMy eye ¹weeps to God.²¹“O that a man might argue with GodAs a son of man with his neighbor!²²“For when a few years are past,I shall go the way ^aof no return.