Job 16

Job’s Reply to Eliphaz

I Have Often Heard This

1 Job said:

2 I have often heard this,

and it offers no comfort.

3 So why don’t you keep quiet?

What’s bothering you?

4 If I were in your place,

it would be easy to criticize

or to give advice.

5 But I would offer hope

and comfort instead.

6 If I speak, or if I don’t,

I hurt all the same.

My torment continues.

7 God has worn me down

and destroyed my family;

8 my shriveled up skin proves

that I am his prisoner.

9 God is my hateful enemy,

glaring at me and attacking

with his sharp teeth.

10 Everyone is against me;

they sneer and slap my face.

11 And God is the one

who handed me over

to this merciless mob.

Everything Was Going Well

12 Everything was going well,

until God grabbed my neck

and shook me to pieces.

God set me up as the target

13 for his arrows,

and without showing mercy,

he slashed my stomach open,

spilling out my insides.

14 God never stops attacking,

15 and so, in my sorrow

I dress in sackcloth*16.15 sackcloth: A rough, dark-colored cloth made from goat hair and used to make grain sacks. It was worn in times of trouble or sorrow.

and sit in the dust.

16 My face is red with tears,

and dark shadows

circle my eyes,

17 though I am not violent,

and my prayers are sincere.

18 If I should die,

I beg the earth not to cover

my cry for justice.

19 *Job 19.25. Even now, God in heaven

is both my witness

and my protector.

20 My friends have rejected me,

but God is the one I beg*16.20 My friends … beg: Or "God is my friend, and he is the one I beg."

21 to show that I am right,

just as a friend should.

22 Because in only a few years,

I will be dead and gone.