Job 16 (Today's New International Version)

Job

1 Then Job replied: 2 "I have heard many things like these; you are miserable comforters,¹ all of you!² 3 Will your long-winded speeches never end?³ What ails you that you keep on arguing?⁴ 4 I also could speak like you, if you were in my place; I could make fine speeches against you and shake my head⁵ at you. 5 But my mouth would encourage you; comfort⁶ from my lips would bring you relief.⁷ 6 "Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved; and if I refrain, it does not go away.⁸ 7 Surely, God, you have worn me out;⁹ you have devastated my entire household.¹⁰ 8 You have shriveled me up--and it has become a witness; my gauntness¹¹ rises up and testifies against me.¹² 9 God assails me and tears¹³ me in his anger¹⁴ and gnashes his teeth at me;¹⁵ my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes.¹⁶ 10 People open their mouths¹⁷ to jeer at me;¹⁸ they strike my cheek¹⁹ in scorn and unite together against me.²⁰ 11 God has turned me over to the ungodly and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked.²¹ 12 All was well with me, but he shattered me; he seized me by the neck and crushed me.²² He has made me his target;²³ 13 his archers surround me.²⁴ Without pity, he pierces²⁵ my kidneys and spills my gall on the ground. 14 Again and again²⁶ he bursts upon me; he rushes at me like a warrior.²⁷ 15 "I have sewed sackcloth²⁸ over my skin and buried my brow in the dust.²⁹ 16 My face is red with weeping,³⁰ dark shadows ring my eyes;³¹ 17 yet my hands have been free of violence³² and my prayer is pure.³³ 18 "Earth, do not cover my blood;³⁴ may my cry³⁵ never be laid to rest!³⁶ 19 Even now my witness³⁷ is in heaven;³⁸ my advocate is on high.³⁹ 20 My intercessor⁴⁰ is my friend^a41 as my eyes pour out⁴² tears⁴³ to God; 21 on behalf of a human being he pleads⁴⁴ with God as one pleads for a friend. 22 "Only a few years will pass before I take the path of no return.⁴⁵