[1] Then Job answered: [2] "I have heard many things like these. You are all painful comforters! [3] Will your long-winded speeches never end? What makes you keep on arguing? [4] I also could speak as you do if you were in my place. I could make great speeches against you and shake my head at you. [5] But, instead, I would encourage you, and my words would bring you relief. [6] "Even if I speak, my pain is not less, and if I don't speak, it still does not go away. [7] God, you have surely taken away my strength and destroyed my whole family. [8] You have made me thin and weak, and this shows I have done wrong. [9] God attacks me and tears me with anger; he grinds his teeth at me; my enemy stares at me with his angry eyes. [10] People open their mouths to make fun of me and hit my cheeks to insult me. They join together against me. [11] God has turned me over to evil people and has handed me over to the wicked. [12] Everything was fine with me, but God broke me into pieces; he held me by the neck and crushed me. He has made me his target; [13] his archers surround me. He stabs my kidneys without mercy; he spills my blood on the ground. [14] Again and again God attacks me; he runs at me like a soldier. [15] "I have sewed rough cloth over my skin to show my sadness and have buried my face in the dust. [16] My face is red from crying; I have dark circles around my eyes. [17] Yet my hands have never done anything cruel, and my prayer is pure. [18] "Earth, please do not cover up my blood. Don't let my cry ever stop being heard! [19] Even now I have one who speaks for me in heaven; the one who is on my side is high above. [20] The one who speaks for me is my friend. My eyes pour out tears to God. [21] He begs God on behalf of a human as a person begs for his friend. [22] "Only a few years will pass before I go on the journey of no return.
