[1] Job replied, [2] “I’ve heard many of these things before. All of you are terrible at comforting me! [3] Your speeches go on forever. Won’t they ever end? What’s wrong with you? Why do you keep on arguing? [4] If you and I changed places, I could say the same things you are saying. I could make fine speeches against you. I could shake my head at you. [5] But what I might say would give you hope. My words of comfort would help you. [6] “If I speak, it doesn’t help me. And if I keep quiet, my pain doesn’t go away. [7] God has worn me out completely. He has destroyed my whole family. [8] People can see the condition he has put me in. My thin body stands as a witness against me. [9] God is angry with me. He attacks me and tears me up. He grinds his teeth at me. He stares at me as if he were my enemy. [10] People make fun of me. They slap my face and laugh at me. All of them join together against me. [11] God has turned me over to sinful people. He has handed me over to them. [12] Everything was going well with me. But he broke me into pieces like a clay pot. He grabbed me by the neck and crushed me. He has taken aim at me. [13] He shoots his arrows at me from all sides. Without pity, he stabs me in the kidneys. He spills my insides on the ground. [14] He smashes through me as if I were a wall. He rushes at me like a fighting man. [15] “I’ve sewed rough clothing over my skin. All I can do is sit here in the dust. [16] My face is red from crying. I have dark circles under my eyes. [17] But I haven’t harmed anyone. My prayers to God are pure. [18] “Earth, please don’t cover up my blood! May God always hear my cry for help! [19] Even now my witness is in heaven. The one who speaks up for me is there. [20] My go-between is my friend as I pour out my tears to God. [21] He makes his appeal to God to help me as a person pleads for a friend. [22] “Only a few years will pass by. Then I’ll take the path of no return.
