1 Job Says Friends Are Sorry Comforters Then Job answered and said,
2 “I have heard many such things;Wearisomeandmiserable comforters are you all.
3 Is there no end to [your futile] words of wind?Or what plagues you [so much] that you [so boldly] answer [me like this]?
4 I also could speak like you,If you were in my place;I could composeandjoin words together against youAnd shake my head at you.
5 [But instead] I could strengthenandencourage you with [the words of] my mouth,And the consolationandsolace of my lips would soothe your sufferingandlessen your anguish.
6 Job Says God Shattered Him “If I speak [to you miserable comforters], my pain is not relieved;And if I refrain [from speaking], what [pain or anguish] leaves me?
7 But now God has exhausted me.You [O Lord] have destroyed all my familyandmy household.
8 You have taken a firm hold on meandhave shriveled me up,It has become a witness [against me];And my leanness [and infirmity] rises up [as evidence] against me,It testifies to my face [about my guilt].
9 His wrath has torn me and hunted me down,He has gnashed at me with his teeth;My adversary sharpens His gazeandglares [with piercing eyes] at me.
10 They have gaped at me with their mouths,With contempt they have struck me on the cheek;They massed themselves together [and conspired] against me.
11 God hands me over toMT reads boys.criminalsAnd tosses me [headlong] into the hands of the wicked.
12 I was [living] at ease, but He crushed meandbroke me apart,And He has seized me by the neck and has shaken me to pieces;He has also set me up as His target.
13 His arrows surround me.He pierces my kidneys (vital organs) without mercy;He pours out my gall on the ground.
14 He attacks me, making wound after wound;He runs at me like a warrior.
15 I have sewed sackcloth over my skin [as a sign of mourning]And have defiled my horn (symbol of strength) in the dust.
16 My face is redandswollen with weeping,And on my eyelids is the shadow of death [my eyes are dimmed],
17 Although there is no violenceorwrongdoing in my hands,And my prayer is pure.
18 “O earth, do not cover my blood,And let there be no [resting] place for my cry [where it will cease being heard].
19 Even now, behold, my Witness is in heaven,And my Advocate [who vouches and testifies for me] is on high.
20 My friends are scoffers [who ridicule];My eye pours out tears to God.
21 Oh, that a man would mediateandplead with God [for me]Just as a man [mediates and pleads] with his neighborandfriend.
22 For when a few years are past,I shall go the way of no return.