Job 16
New International Version - Job 16 << | >> 123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142 16:1 Then Job replied: 16:2 'I have heard many things like these; miserable comforters are you all! 16:3 Will your long-winded speeches never end? What ails you that you keep on arguing? 16:4 I also could speak like you, if you were in my place; I could make fine speeches against you and shake my head at you. 16:5 But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief. 16:6 'Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved; and if I refrain, it does not go away. 16:7 Surely, O God, you have worn me out; you have devastated my entire household. 16:8 You have bound me-and it has become a witness; my gauntness rises up and testifies against me. 16:9 God assails me and tears me in his anger and gnashes his teeth at me; my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes. 16:10 Men open their mouths to jeer at me; they strike my cheek in scorn and unite together against me. 16:11 God has turned me over to evil men and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked. 16:12 All was well with me, but he shattered me; he 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 spills my gall on the ground. 16:14 Again and again he bursts upon me; he rushes at me like a warrior. 16:15 'I have sewed sackcloth over my skin and buried my brow in the dust. 16:16 My face is red with weeping, deep shadows ring my eyes; 16:17 yet my hands have been free of violence and my prayer is pure. 16:18 'O earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry never be laid to rest! 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 on behalf of a man he pleads with God as a man pleads for his friend. 16:22 'Only a few years will pass before I go on the journey of no return.