Job 16:1-13 ▼

1 Then Job replied [to his friends],

2 |I have heard many things like this before. You are all pathetic at comforting me.

3 Will [your] long-winded speeches never end? What disturbs you that you keep on answering [me]?

4 I, too, could speak like you if we could trade places. I could string words together against you and shake my head at you.

5 I could encourage you with my mouth, and my quivering lips could ease [your pain].

6 If I speak, my pain is not eased. If I stop talking, how much of it will go away?

7 |But now, God has worn me out. You, [God,] have destroyed everyone who supports me.

8 You have shriveled me up, which itself is a witness [against me]. My frail body rises up and testifies against me.

9 |God's anger tore me [apart] and attacked me. He gritted his teeth at me. My opponent looked sharply at me.

10 People gaped at me with wide-open mouths. In scorn they slapped my cheeks. They united against me.

11 God handed me over to unjust people and threw me into the hands of wicked people.

12 I was at ease, and he shattered me. He grabbed me by the back of the neck and smashed [my skull]. He set me up as his target,

13 and his archers surrounded me. He slashes open my kidneys without mercy and spills my blood on the ground.