1 T hen Job answered and said:

Then Job answered,

2 “ I have heard many such things; Miserable comforters are you all!

“I have heard many such things. All of you bring trouble instead of comfort.

3 S hall words of wind have an end? Or what provokes you that you answer?

Is there no end to your words that are full of wind? What is your problem that you keep on talking?

4 I also could speak as you do, If your soul were in my soul’s place. I could heap up words against you, And shake my head at you;

I also could speak like you, if I were in your place. I could put words together against you, and shake my head at you.

5 B ut I would strengthen you with my mouth, And the comfort of my lips would relieve your grief.

I could give you strength with my mouth. I could speak words of comfort and make your pain less.

6 “ Though I speak, my grief is not relieved; And if I remain silent, how am I eased?

“If I speak, my pain is not made less. And if I keep quiet, it does not leave me.

7 B ut now He has worn me out; You have made desolate all my company.

But now God has taken away my strength. He has taken away all my family.

8 Y ou have shriveled me up, And it is a witness against me; My leanness rises up against me And bears witness to my face.

He has made me dry up, and this speaks against me. The wasting away of my body rises up against me. It speaks against me to my face.

9 H e tears me in His wrath, and hates me; He gnashes at me with His teeth; My adversary sharpens His gaze on me.

His anger has torn me and hated me. He has ground His teeth at me. The one against me looks hard at me.

10 T hey gape at me with their mouth, They strike me reproachfully on the cheek, They gather together against me.

Men have looked at me with their mouths open. They have hit me on the face with anger. They have gathered together against me.

11 G od has delivered me to the ungodly, And turned me over to the hands of the wicked.

God gives me over to bad men. He throws me into the hands of the sinful.

12 I was at ease, but He has shattered me; He also has taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces; He has set me up for His target,

I was living in comfort, but He has taken that away. He has taken hold of me by the neck and shaken me to pieces. He has set me up for something to shoot at.

13 H is archers surround me. He pierces my heart and does not pity; He pours out my gall on the ground.

His arrows are all around me. He cuts my kidneys open without pity. He pours the bitter insides on the ground.

14 H e breaks me with wound upon wound; He runs at me like a warrior.

He hurts me again and again. He runs at me like a man of war.

15 “ I have sewn sackcloth over my skin, And laid my head in the dust.

I have sewed cloth made from hair over my skin, and have laid my hope in the dust.

16 M y face is flushed from weeping, And on my eyelids is the shadow of death;

My face is red from crying, and darkness is over my eyes.

17 A lthough no violence is in my hands, And my prayer is pure.

But my hands have done nothing bad, and my prayer is pure.

18 “ O earth, do not cover my blood, And let my cry have no resting place!

“O earth, do not cover my blood. Let my cry have no place to rest.

19 S urely even now my witness is in heaven, And my evidence is on high.

See, even now there is One Who sees me from heaven. The One Who speaks for me is on high.

20 M y friends scorn me; My eyes pour out tears to God.

My friends make fun of me. My eyes pour out tears to God.

21 O h, that one might plead for a man with God, As a man pleads for his neighbor!

If only a man could give reasons to God, as a man does for his neighbor!

22 F or when a few years are finished, I shall go the way of no return.

In a few years I will go the way that I cannot return.