[1] Then Job spoke again: [2] "I have heard all this before. What miserable comforters you are! [3] Won't you ever stop blowing hot air? What makes you keep on talking? [4] I could say the same things if you were in my place. I could spout off criticism and shake my head at you. [5] But if it were me, I would encourage you. I would try to take away your grief. [6] Instead, I suffer if I defend myself, and I suffer no less if I refuse to speak. [7] "O God, you have ground me down and devastated my family. [8] As if to prove I have sinned, you've reduced me to skin and bones. My gaunt flesh testifies against me. [9] God hates me and angrily tears me apart. He snaps his teeth at me and pierces me with his eyes. [10] People jeer and laugh at me. They slap my cheek in contempt. A mob gathers against me. [11] God has handed me over to sinners. He has tossed me into the hands of the wicked. [12] "I was living quietly until he shattered me. He took me by the neck and broke me in pieces. Then he set me up as his target, [13] and now his archers surround me. His arrows pierce me without mercy. The ground is wet with my blood. [14] Again and again he smashes against me, charging at me like a warrior. [15] I wear burlap to show my grief. My pride lies in the dust. [16] My eyes are red with weeping; dark shadows circle my eyes. [17] Yet I have done no wrong, and my prayer is pure. [18] "O earth, do not conceal my blood. Let it cry out on my behalf. [19] Even now my witness is in heaven. My advocate is there on high. [20] My friends scorn me, but I pour out my tears to God. [21] I need someone to mediate between God and me, as a person mediates between friends. [22] For soon I must go down that road from which I will never return.
