| 16:1 | Job Reproaches His Pitiless FriendsJob Shames His Unsympathetic Friends Then Job answered and said: |
| 16:2 | I have heard many such things; Miserable comforters are you all! |
| 16:3 | Shall words of wind have an end? Or what provokes you that you answer? |
| 16:4 | I also could speak as you do, If your soul were in my soul's place. I could heap up words against you, And shake my head at you; |
| 16:5 | But I would strengthen you with my mouth, And the comfort of my lips would relieve your grief. |
| 16:6 | Though I speak, my grief is not relieved; And if I remain silent, how am I eased? |
| 16:7 | But now He has worn me out; You have made desolate all my company. |
| 16:8 | You have shriveled me up, And it is a witness against me; My leanness rises up against me And bears witness to my face. |
| 16:9 | He tears me in His wrath, and hates me; He gnashes at me with His teeth; My adversary sharpens His gaze on me. |
| 16:10 | They gape at me with their mouth, They strike me reproachfully on the cheek, They gather together against me. |
| 16:11 | God has delivered me to the ungodly, And turned me over to the hands of the wicked. |
| 16:12 | I was at ease, but He has shattered me; He also has taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces; He has set me up for His target, |
| 16:13 | His archers surround me. He pierces my heart and does not pity; He pours out my gall on the ground. |
| 16:14 | He breaks me with wound upon wound; He runs at me like a warrior. |
| 16:15 | I have sewn sackcloth over my skin, And laid my head in the dust. |
| 16:16 | My face is flushed from weeping, And on my eyelids is the shadow of death; |
| 16:17 | Although no violence is in my hands, And my prayer is pure. |
| 16:18 | O earth, do not cover my blood, And let my cry have no resting place! |
| 16:19 | Surely even now my witness is in heaven, And my evidence is on high. |
| 16:20 | My friends scorn me; My eyes pour out tears to God. |
| 16:21 | Oh, that one might plead for a man with God, As a man pleads for his neighbor! |
| 16:22 | For when a few years are finished, I shall go the way of no return. |