Parallel Bible results for "job 16"

Job 16

Common English Bible CEB

1 Then Job answered:

2 I've heard many things like these. All of you are sorry comforters.

3 Will windy talk ever cease; what bothers you that you must argue?

4 In your situation I could speak like you; I could put words together to oppose you, shake my head over you.

5 I could heap up words, strengthen you with my speech; my trembling lips would be held in check.

6 If I speak, my pain is not eased; if I hold back, what have I lost?

7 Now God has surely worn me out. You have destroyed my entire group,

8 seized me, which became grounds for an accusation. My leanness rises to bear witness against me.

9 His anger tears me and afflicts me; he slashes at me with his teeth. My enemy pierces me with his eyes.

10 They open their mouths at me and strike my cheek in a taunt; they gang up on me.

11 God delivers me to a criminal and forces me into the hands of the wicked.

12 I was at rest, but he shattered me, seized me by the back of my neck, dashed me into pieces; he raised me up for his target.

13 His archers surround me; he cuts my kidneys open without pity and doesn't care, pours my gall on the ground,

14 bursts me open over and over, runs against me like a strong man.

15 I've sewed rough cloth over my skin and buried my dignity in the dust.

16 My face is red from crying, and dark gloom hangs on my eyelids.

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

18 Earth, don't cover my blood; let my outcry never cease.

19 Surely now my witness stands in heaven; my advocate is on high;

20 my go-between, my friend. While my eyes drip tears to God,

21 let him plead with God for a human being, like a person pleads for a friend.

22 A number of years will surely pass, and then I'll walk a path that I won't return.

The Message Bible MSG

1 Then Job defended himself:

2 "I've had all I can take of your talk. What a bunch of miserable comforters!

3 Is there no end to your windbag speeches? What's your problem that you go on and on like this?

4 If you were in my shoes, I could talk just like you. I could put together a terrific harangue and really let you have it.

5 But I'd never do that. I'd console and comfort, make things better, not worse!

6 "When I speak up, I feel no better; if I say nothing, that doesn't help either.

7 I feel worn down. God, you have wasted me totally - me and my family!

8 You've shriveled me like a dried prune, showing the world that you're against me. My gaunt face stares back at me from the mirror, a mute witness to your treatment of me.

9 Your anger tears at me, your teeth rip me to shreds, your eyes burn holes in me - God, my enemy!

10 People take one look at me and gasp. Contemptuous, they slap me around and gang up against me.

11 And God just stands there and lets them do it, lets wicked people do what they want with me.

12 I was contentedly minding my business when God beat me up. He grabbed me by the neck and threw me around. He set me up as his target,

13 then rounded up archers to shoot at me. Merciless, they shot me full of arrows; bitter bile poured from my gut to the ground.

14 He burst in on me, onslaught after onslaught, charging me like a mad bull.

15 "I sewed myself a shroud and wore it like a shirt; I lay face down in the dirt.

16 Now my face is blotched red from weeping; look at the dark shadows under my eyes,

17 Even though I've never hurt a soul and my prayers are sincere! The One Who Represents Mortals Before God

18 "O Earth, don't cover up the wrong done to me! Don't muffle my cry!

19 There must be Someone in heaven who knows the truth about me, in highest heaven, some Attorney who can clear my name -

20 My Champion, my Friend, while I'm weeping my eyes out before God.

21 I appeal to the One who represents mortals before God as a neighbor stands up for a neighbor.

22 "Only a few years are left before I set out on the road of no return.