[1] Then Job answered: [2] “I have heard many things like these; miserable comforters are you all. [3] Is there no end to your long-winded speeches? What provokes you to continue testifying? [4] I could also speak like you if you were in my place; I could heap up words against you and shake my head at you. [5] But I would encourage you with my mouth, and the consolation of my lips would bring relief. [6] Even if I speak, my pain is not relieved, and if I hold back, how will it go away? [7] Surely He has now exhausted me; You have devastated all my family. [8] You have bound me, and it has become a witness; my frailty rises up and testifies against me. [9] His anger has torn me and opposed me; He gnashes His teeth at me. My adversary pierces me with His eyes. [10] They open their mouths against me and strike my cheeks with contempt; they join together against me. [11] God has delivered me to unjust men; He has thrown me to the clutches of the wicked. [12] I was at ease, but He shattered me; He seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has set me up as His target; [13] His archers surround me. He pierces my kidneys without mercy and spills my gall on the ground. [14] He breaks me with wound upon wound; He rushes me like a mighty warrior. [15] I have sewn sackcloth over my skin; I have buried my horn in the dust. [16] My face is red with weeping, and deep shadows ring my eyes; [17] yet my hands are free of violence and my prayer is pure. [18] O earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry for help never be laid to rest. [19] Even now my witness is in heaven, and my advocate is on high. [20] My friends are my scoffers as my eyes pour out tears to God. [21] Oh, that a man might plead with God as he pleads with his neighbor! [22] For when only a few years are past I will go the way of no return.[’’]
