[1] Then Job answered and said: [2] "I have heard many such things; Miserable comforters are you all! [3] Shall words of wind have an end? Or what provokes you that you answer? [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; [5] But I would strengthen you with my mouth, And the comfort of my lips would relieve your grief. [6] "Though I speak, my grief is not relieved; And if I remain silent, how am I eased? [7] But now He has worn me out; You have made desolate all my company. [8] You have shriveled me up, And it is a witness against me; My leanness rises up against me And bears witness to my face. [9] He tears me in His wrath, and hates me; He gnashes at me with His teeth; My adversary sharpens His gaze on me. [10] They gape at me with their mouth, They strike me reproachfully on the cheek, They gather together against me. [11] God has delivered me to the ungodly, And turned me over to the hands of the wicked. [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, [13] His archers surround me. He pierces my heart and does not pity; He pours out my gall on the ground. [14] He breaks me with wound upon wound; He runs at me like a warrior. [15] "I have sewn sackcloth over my skin, And laid my head in the dust. [16] My face is flushed from weeping, And on my eyelids is the shadow of death; [17] Although no violence is in my hands, And my prayer is pure. [18] "O earth, do not cover my blood, And let my cry have no resting place! [19] Surely even now my witness is in heaven, And my evidence is on high. [20] My friends scorn me; My eyes pour out tears to God. [21] Oh, that one might plead for a man with God, As a man pleads for his neighbor! [22] For when a few years are finished, I shall go the way of no return.
