16:1 Then Job replied:
16:2 “I have heard many things like these before.
What miserable comforters are you all!
16:3 Will there be an end to your windy words?
Or what provokes you that you answer?
16:4 I also could speak like you,
if you were in my place;
I could pile up words against you
and I could shake my head at you.
16:5 But I would strengthen you with my words;
comfort from my lips would bring you relief.
16:6 “But if I speak, my pain is not relieved,
and if I refrain from speaking
– how much of it goes away?
16:7 Surely now he has worn me out,
you have devastated my entire household.
16:8 You have seized me,
and it has become a witness;
my leanness has risen up against me
and testifies against me.
16:9 His anger has torn me and persecuted me;
he has gnashed at me with his teeth;
my adversary locks his eyes on me.
16:10 People have opened their mouths against me,
they have struck my cheek in scorn;
they unite together against me.
16:11 God abandons me to evil men,
and throws me into the hands of wicked men.
16:12 I was in peace, and he has shattered me.
He has seized me by the neck and crushed me.
He has made me his target;
16:13 his archers surround me.
Without pity he pierces my kidneys
and pours out my gall on the ground.
16:14 He breaks through against me, time and time again;
he rushes against me like a warrior.
16:15 I have sewed sackcloth on my skin,
and buried my horn in the dust;
16:16 my face is reddened because of weeping,
and on my eyelids there is a deep darkness,
16:17 although there is no violence in my hands
and my prayer is pure.
16:18 “O earth, do not cover my blood,
nor let there be a secret place for my cry.
16:19 Even now my witness is in heaven;
my advocate is on high.
16:20 My intercessor is my friend
as my eyes pour out tears to God;
16:21 and he contends with God on behalf of man
as a man pleads for his friend.
16:22 For the years that lie ahead are few,
and then I will go on the way of no return.