Job Says Friends Are Sorry Comforters
1Then Job answered and said,2“I have heard many such things;Wearisomeand miserable 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 composeand join words together against youAnd shake my head at you.5“[But instead] I could strengthenand encourage you with [the words of] my mouth,And the consolationand solace of my lips would soothe your sufferingand lessen 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 familyand my household.8“You have taken a firm hold on meand have 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 gazeand glares [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 to[a]criminalsAnd tosses me [headlong] into the hands of the wicked.12“I was [living] at ease, but He crushed meand broke 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 redand swollen with weeping,And on my eyelids is the shadow of death [my eyes are dimmed],17Although there is no violenceor wrongdoing 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 mediateand plead with God [for me]Just as a man [mediates and pleads] with his neighborand friend.22“For when a few years are past,I shall go the way of no return.
[a]11 MT readsboys.
