16:1 Then Job answered and said,
16:2 I have heard many such things: Miserable comforters are ye all.
16:3 Shall vain words have an end? Or what provoketh thee that thou answerest?
16:4 I also could speak as ye do; If your soul were in my soul’s stead, I could join words together against you, And shake my head at you.
16:5 But I would strengthen you with my mouth, And the solace of my lips would assuage your grief.
16:6 Though I speak, my grief is not assuaged; And though I forbear, what am I eased?
16:7 But now he hath made me weary: Thou hast made desolate all my company.
16:8 And thou hast laid fast hold on me, which is a witness against me: And my leanness riseth up against me, It testifieth to my face.
16:9 He hath torn me in his wrath, and persecuted me; He hath gnashed upon me with his teeth: Mine adversary sharpeneth his eyes upon me.
16:10 They have gaped upon me with their mouth; They have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully: They gather themselves together against me.
16:11 God delivereth me to the ungodly, And casteth me into the hands of the wicked.
16:12 I was at ease, and he brake me asunder; Yea, he hath taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces: He hath also set me up for his mark.
16:13 His archers compass me round about; He cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; He poureth out my gall upon the ground.
16:14 He breaketh me with breach upon breach; He runneth upon me like a giant.
16:15 I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, And have laid my horn in the dust.
16:16 My face is red with weeping, And on my eyelids is the shadow of death;
16:17 Although there is no violence in my hands, And my prayer is pure.
16:18 O earth, cover not thou my blood, And let my cry have no resting-place.
16:19 Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, And he that voucheth for me is on high.
16:20 My friends scoff at me: But mine eye poureth out tears unto God,
16:21 That he would maintain the right of a man with God, And of a son of man with his neighbor!
16:22 For when a few years are come, I shall go the way whence I shall not return.
17:1 My spirit is consumed, my days are extinct, The grave is ready for me.
17:2 Surely there are mockers with me, And mine eye dwelleth upon their provocation.
17:3 Give now a pledge, be surety for me with thyself; Who is there that will strike hands with me?
17:4 For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: Therefore shalt thou not exalt them.
17:5 He that denounceth his friends for a prey, Even the eyes of his children shall fail.
17:6 But he hath made me a byword of the people; And they spit in my face.
17:7 Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, And all my members are as a shadow.
17:8 Upright men shall be astonished at this, And the innocent shall stir up himself against the godless.
17:9 Yet shall the righteous hold on his way, And he that hath clean hands shall wax stronger and stronger.
17:10 But as for you all, come on now again; And I shall not find a wise man among you.
17:11 My days are past, my purposes are broken off, Even the thoughts of my heart.
17:12 They change the night into day: The light, say they, is near unto the darkness.
17:13 If I look for Sheol as my house; If I have spread my couch in the darkness;
17:14 If I have said to corruption, Thou art my father; To the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister;
17:15 Where then is my hope? And as for my hope, who shall see it?
17:16 It shall go down to the bars of Sheol, When once there is rest in the dust.