Job Says Friends Are Sorry Comforters
1 Then Job answered and said,
2 “I have heard many such things;
Wearisomeandmiserable comforters are you all.
3 “Is there no end to [your futile] words of wind?
Or what plagues you [so much] that you [so boldly] answer [me like this]?
4 “I also could speak like you,
If you were in my place;
I could composeandjoin words together against you
And shake my head at you.
5 “[But instead] I could strengthenandencourage you with [the words of] my mouth,
And the consolationandsolace of my lips would soothe your sufferingandlessen your anguish.
Job Says God Shattered Him
6 “If I speak [to you miserable comforters], my pain is not relieved;
And if I refrain [from speaking], what [pain or anguish] leaves me?
7 “But now God has exhausted me.
You [O Lord] have destroyed all my familyandmy household.
8 “You have taken a firm hold on meandhave shriveled me up,
It has become a witness [against me];
And my leanness [and infirmity] rises up [as evidence] against me,
It testifies to my face [about my guilt].
9 “His wrath has torn me and hunted me down,
He has gnashed at me with his teeth;
My adversary sharpens His gazeandglares [with piercing eyes] at me.
10 “They have gaped at me with their mouths,
With contempt they have struck me on the cheek;
They massed themselves together [and conspired] against me.
11 “God hands me over tocriminals
And tosses me [headlong] into the hands of the wicked.
12 “I was [living] at ease, but He crushed meandbroke me apart,
And He has seized me by the neck and has shaken me to pieces;
He has also set me up as His target.
13 “His arrows surround me.
He pierces my kidneys (vital organs) without mercy;
He pours out my gall on the ground.
14 “He attacks me, making wound after wound;
He runs at me like a warrior.
15 “I have sewed sackcloth over my skin [as a sign of mourning]
And have defiled my horn (symbol of strength) in the dust.
16 “My face is redandswollen with weeping,
And on my eyelids is the shadow of death [my eyes are dimmed],
17 Although there is no violenceorwrongdoing in my hands,
And my prayer is pure.
18 “O earth, do not cover my blood,
And let there be no [resting] place for my cry [where it will cease being heard].
19 “Even now, behold, my Witness is in heaven,
And my Advocate [who vouches and testifies for me] is on high.
20 “My friends are scoffers [who ridicule];
My eye pours out tears to God.
21 “Oh, that a man would mediateandplead with God [for me]
Just as a man [mediates and pleads] with his neighborandfriend.
22 “For when a few years are past,
I shall go the way of no return.