Job 16
1 And Job made answer and said,
2 Such things have frequently come to my ears: you are comforters who only give trouble.
3 May words which are like the wind be stopped? or what is troubling you to make answer to them?
4 It would not be hard for me to say such things if your souls were in my soul's place; joining words together against you, and shaking my head at you:
5 I might give you strength with my mouth, and not keep back the comfort of my lips.
6 If I say what is in my mind, my pain becomes no less: and if I keep quiet, how much of it goes from me?
7 But now he has overcome me with weariness and fear, and I am in the grip of all my trouble.
8 It has come up as a witness against me, and the wasting of my flesh makes answer to my face.
9 I am broken by his wrath, and his hate has gone after me; he has made his teeth sharp against me: my haters are looking on me with cruel eyes;
10 Their mouths are open wide against me; the blows of his bitter words are falling on my face; all of them come together in a mass against me.
11 God gives me over to the power of sinners, sending me violently into the hands of evil-doers.
12 I was in comfort, but I have been broken up by his hands; he has taken me by the neck, shaking me to bits; he has put me up as a mark for his arrows.
13 His bowmen come round about me; their arrows go through my body without mercy; my life is drained out on the earth.
14 I am broken with wound after wound; he comes rushing on me like a man of war.
15 I have made haircloth the clothing of my skin, and my horn is rolled in the dust.
16 My face is red with weeping, and my eyes are becoming dark;
17 Though my hands have done no violent acts, and my prayer is clean.
18 O earth, let not my blood be covered, and let my cry have no resting-place!
19 Even now my witness is in heaven, and the supporter of my cause is on high.
20 My friends make sport of me; to God my eyes are weeping,
21 So that he may give decision for a man in his cause with God, and between a son of man and his neighbour.
22 For in a short time I will take the journey from which I will not come back.
Cross-references
157
- 2Job 13:4–5, Job 26:2–3, Psa 69:26, Job 6:25, Jas 1:19, Php 1:16, Job 19:2–3, Job 6:6
- 3Job 6:26, Job 15:2, Mat 22:46, Tit 2:8, Tit 1:11, Job 20:3, Job 8:2, Job 32:3–6
- 4Psa 109:25, Psa 22:7, Lam 2:15, Mat 7:12, 2Ki 19:21, Jer 18:16, Rom 12:15, Psa 44:14
- 5Gal 6:1, Pro 27:9, Isa 35:3–4, Job 6:14, Job 29:25, Psa 27:14, Job 4:3–4, Pro 27:17
- 6Job 10:1, Psa 88:15–18, Psa 77:1–9
- 7Job 7:3, Job 1:15–19, Mic 6:13, Pro 3:11–12, Job 3:17, Job 10:1, Job 29:5–25, Job 7:16
- 8Job 10:17, Job 19:20, Psa 109:24, Rut 1:21, Isa 10:16, Psa 106:15, Isa 24:16, Eph 5:27
- 9Psa 35:16, Lam 2:16, Job 13:24, Job 19:11, Hos 6:1, Psa 37:12, Act 7:54, Job 10:16–17
- 10Psa 35:15, Psa 22:13, Isa 50:6, Lam 3:30, Psa 22:16–17, Act 23:2, Mic 5:1, 2Co 11:20
- 11Psa 27:12, Psa 7:14, Psa 31:8, 2Co 12:7, Jhn 19:16, 1Sa 24:18, Job 2:7, Job 1:13–19
- 12Lam 3:11–12, Job 7:20, Lam 3:4, Job 9:17, Psa 44:19, Job 4:10, Rom 16:4, Job 7:12
- 13Job 20:25, Job 6:4, Lam 2:11, Gen 49:23, Job 6:10, Psa 7:12–13, Deu 29:20, Rom 8:32
- 14Jdg 15:8, Job 9:17, Psa 42:7, Lam 3:3–5, Jol 2:7
- 15Gen 37:34, Psa 7:5, 1Ki 21:27, Psa 75:5, Isa 22:12, Psa 75:10, 1Sa 2:10, Job 30:19
- 16Mrk 14:34, Lam 1:16, Psa 102:3–5, Jon 2:1–10, Job 17:7, Psa 31:9, Psa 102:9, Isa 52:14
- 17Pro 15:8, Psa 66:18–19, Job 8:5–6, Job 27:6–7, Psa 7:3–5, Job 15:34, Job 11:14, Job 22:5–9
- 18Isa 26:21, Ezk 24:7, Gen 4:11, Psa 66:18–19, Jas 4:3–4, Isa 1:15, Job 27:9, Neh 4:5
- 19Rom 1:9, 1Th 2:10, Gen 31:50, 2Co 1:23, Job 25:2, 1Th 2:5, Psa 113:5, 1Sa 12:5
- 20Heb 5:7, Psa 142:2, Job 12:4–5, Luk 6:11–12, Job 16:4, Job 17:2, Psa 109:4, Hos 12:4–5
- 21Ecc 6:10, Rom 9:20, Isa 45:9, Job 9:34–35, Job 31:35, Job 23:3–7, Job 13:3, Job 13:22
- 22Job 14:10, Job 14:5, Job 7:9–10, Job 14:14, Ecc 12:5