Job 16:1-22 VOICE

[1] Then Job reiterated his innocence. [2] Job: All the things from you sound the same. You are all terrible as comforters! [3] Have we reached the end of your windy words, or are you sick with something that compels you to argue with me? [4] If we were to trade places, I could rattle on as you do. I could compose eloquent speeches as you do and shake my head smugly at you and your problems. [5] But I believe I would use my words to encourage you; my lips would move only to offer you relief. [6] And yet, I am not you, you are not me, and my words are of no real use: When I speak, my pain is not relieved; if I remain silent, it does not go away. [7] God has drained me utterly; He has made those near to me desolate-killed my family and my servants. [8] You have shriveled me up; my withered form stands as a witness against me; my body, haggard and thin, testifies to my face. [9] In anger He hunts me down and tears at me; in rancor His teeth grind on my flesh; His eyes are locked on me as a foe, eager to destroy still more of me. [10] My foes taunt me, their mouths gape in derision, they slap my cheek in disgust, and they conspire against me. [11] God has forsaken me to young thugs and flung me into the hands of evildoers who lie in wait for me. [12] I was living a good life-a quiet, peaceful life- when He began to beat on me; He throttled my neck, tore me apart, and then propped me up at the far end of the field, making me a target. [13] His archers have now gathered around me. In cold blood He splits my belly open and spills my bile on the earth. [14] He charged like a soldier storming a stronghold until my walls were breached, broken down, one after another. [15] Job: Well, I have sewed the sackcloth to my very skin and buried my mighty forehead in the dirt. [16] My face, red and hot, boils over in tears; the shadow of darkness lies heavy on my eyelids, [17] No matter that my hands are free of violence, and my prayer is pure. [18] O earth, do not conceal my blood! And when they seek to silence my cry, refuse a place for its burial. [19] Look! Even at this very moment, my witness is there, in heaven; my advocate is seated on high. [20] My only friends scoff at me; they persist in mocking me; even now my eyes well up in tears to God, [21] Appealing to God as a mere man, as a human being might for the sake of his friend. [22] Only a few years left now, and I will go down the path from which I cannot return.