Job 16

Job 16 – New International Version (NIV)

1. Then Job replied:
2. “I have heard many things like these; you are miserable comforters, all of you!
3. Will your long-winded speeches never end? What ails you that you keep on arguing?
4. I also could speak like you, if you were in my place; I could make fine speeches against you and shake my head at you.
5. But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief.
6. “Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved; and if I refrain, it does not go away.
7. Surely, God, you have worn me out; you have devastated my entire household.
8. You have shriveled me up—and it has become a witness; my gauntness rises up and testifies against me.
9. God assails me and tears me in his anger and gnashes his teeth at me; my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes.
10. People open their mouths to jeer at me; they strike my cheek in scorn and unite together against me.
11. God has turned me over to the ungodly and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked.
12. All was well with me, but he shattered me; he seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has made me his target;
13. his archers surround me. Without pity, he pierces my kidneys and spills my gall on the ground.
14. Again and again he bursts upon me; he rushes at me like a warrior.
15. “I have sewed sackcloth over my skin and buried my brow in the dust.
16. My face is red with weeping, dark shadows ring my eyes;
17. yet my hands have been free of violence and my prayer is pure.
18. “Earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry never be laid to rest!
19. Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high.
20. My intercessor is my friend^[a] as my eyes pour out tears to God;
21. on behalf of a man he pleads with God as one pleads for a friend.
22. “Only a few years will pass before I take the path of no return.

Footnotes

Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Job 16 – King James Version (KJV)

Job’s Reply

1. Then Job answered and said,
2. I have heard many such things: Miserable comforters are ye all.
3. Shall vain words have an end? Or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest?
4. I also could speak as ye do: If your soul were in my soul’s stead, I could heap up words against you, And shake mine head at you.
5. But I would strengthen you with my mouth, And the moving of my lips should asswage your grief.
6. Though I speak, my grief is not asswaged: And though I forbear, what am I eased?
7. But now he hath made me weary: Thou hast made desolate all my company.
8. And thou hast filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me: And my leanness rising up in me beareth witness to my face.
9. He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me: He gnasheth upon me with his teeth; Mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me.
10. They have gaped upon me with their mouth; They have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; They have gathered themselves together against me.
11. God hath delivered me to the ungodly, And turned me over into the hands of the wicked.
12. I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder: He hath also taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces, And set me up for his mark.
13. His archers compass me round about, He cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; He poureth out my gall upon the ground.
14. He breaketh me with breach upon breach, He runneth upon me like a giant.
15. I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, And defiled my horn in the dust.
16. My face is foul with weeping, And on my eyelids is the shadow of death;
17. Not for any injustice in mine hands: Also my prayer is pure.
18. O earth, cover not thou my blood, And let my cry have no place.
19. Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, And my record is on high.
20. My friends scorn me: but mine eye poureth out tears unto God.
21. O that one might plead for a man with God, As a man pleadeth for his neighbour!
22. When a few years are come, Then I shall go the way whence I shall not return.