job

16 
Then Job answered and said,
I have heard many such things:
[a]Miserable comforters are ye all.
Shall [b]vain words have an end?
Or what provoketh thee that thou answerest?
I also could speak as ye do;
If your soul were in my soul’s stead,
I could join words together against you,
And shake my head at you.
But I would strengthen you with my mouth,
And the solace of my lips would assuage your grief.
Though I speak, my grief is not assuaged;
And though I forbear, [c]what am I eased?
But now he hath made me weary:
Thou hast made desolate all my company.
And thou hast [d]laid fast hold on me, which is a witness against me:
And my leanness riseth up against me,
It testifieth to my face.
He hath torn me in his wrath, and [e]persecuted me;
He hath gnashed upon me with his teeth:
Mine adversary sharpeneth his eyes upon me.
10 They have gaped upon me with their mouth;
They have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully:
They gather themselves together against me.
11 God delivereth me to the ungodly,
And casteth me into the hands of the wicked.
12 I was at ease, and he brake me asunder;
Yea, he hath taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces:
He hath also set me up for his mark.
13 His [f]archers compass me round about;
He cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare;
He poureth out my gall upon the ground.
14 He breaketh me with breach upon breach;
He runneth upon me like a [g]giant.
15 I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin,
And have [h]laid my horn in the dust.
16 My face is red with weeping,
And on my eyelids is the shadow of death;
17 Although there is no violence in my hands,
And my prayer is pure.
18 O earth, cover not thou my blood,
And let my cry [i]have no resting-place.
19 Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven,
And he that voucheth for me is on high.
20 My friends scoff at me:
But mine eye poureth out tears unto God,
21 [j]That he would maintain the right of a man with God,
And of a son of man with his neighbor!
22 For when a few years are come,
I shall go the way whence I shall not return.

Footnotes

  1. Job 16:2 Or, Wearisome
  2. Job 16:3 Hebrew words of wind.
  3. Job 16:6 Hebrew what departeth from me?
  4. Job 16:8 Or, shrivelled me up
  5. Job 16:9 Or, hated
  6. Job 16:13 Or, arrows. Or, mighty ones
  7. Job 16:14 Or, mighty man
  8. Job 16:15 Or, defiled
  9. Job 16:18 Or, have no more place
  10. Job 16:21 Or, That one might plead for a man with God, As a son of man pleadeth for his neighbor