Job 16:8-18

8 And Thou dost loathe me, For a witness it hath been, And rise up against me doth my failure, In my face it testifieth.

9 His anger hath torn, and he hateth me, He hath gnashed at me with his teeth, My adversary sharpeneth his eyes for me.

10 They have gaped on me with their mouth, In reproach they have smitten my cheeks, Together against me they set themselves.

11 God shutteth me up unto the perverse, And to the hands of the wicked turneth me over.

12 At ease I have been, and he breaketh me, And he hath laid hold on my neck, And he breaketh me in pieces, And he raiseth me to him for a mark.

13 Go round against me do his archers. He splitteth my reins, and spareth not, He poureth out to the earth my gall.

14 He breaketh me -- breach upon breach, He runneth upon me as a mighty one.

15 Sackcloth I have sewed on my skin, And have rolled in the dust my horn.

16 My face is foul with weeping, And on mine eyelids [is] death-shade.

17 Not for violence in my hands, And my prayer [is] pure.

18 O earth, do not thou cover my blood! And let there not be a place for my cry.

Job 16:8-18 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 16

This chapter and the following contain Job's reply to the preceding discourse of Eliphaz, in which he complains of the conversation of his friends, as unprofitable, uncomfortable, vain, empty, and without any foundation, Job 16:1-3; and intimates that were they in his case and circumstances, tie should behave in another manner towards them, not mock at them, but comfort them, Job 16:4,5; though such was his unhappy case, that, whether he spoke or was silent, it was much the same; there was no alloy to his grief, Job 16:6; wherefore he turns himself to God, and speaks to him, and of what he had done to him, both to his family, and to himself; which things, as they proved the reality of his afflictions, were used by his friends as witnesses against him, Job 16:7,8; and then enters upon a detail of his troubles, both at the hands of God and man, in order to move the divine compassion, and the pity of his friends, Job 16:9-14; which occasioned him great sorrow and distress, Job 16:15,16; yet asserts his own innocence, and appeals to God for the truth of it, Job 16:17-19; and applies to him, and wishes his cause was pleaded with him, Job 16:20,21; and concludes with the sense he had of the shortness of his life, Job 16:22; which sentiment is enlarged upon in the following chapter.