What disturbs you that you keep on answering me?

4 I, too, could speak like you if we could trade places.

I could string words together against you and shake my head at you.

5 I could encourage you with my mouth, and my quivering lips could ease your pain.

6 If I speak, my pain is not eased.

If I stop talking, how much of it will go away?

7 "But now, God has worn me out.

You, God, have destroyed everyone who supports me.

8 You have shriveled me up, which itself is a witness against me.

My frail body rises up and testifies against me.

Job Describes What God Has Done to Him 9 "God's anger tore me apart and attacked me.

He gritted his teeth at me.

My opponent looked sharply at me.

10 People gaped at me with wide-open mouths.

In scorn they slapped my cheeks.

They united against me.

11 El handed me over to unjust people and threw me into the hands of wicked people.

12 I was at ease, and he shattered me.

He grabbed me by the back of the neck and smashed my skull.

He set me up as his target, 13 and his archers surrounded me.

He slashes open my kidneys without mercy and spills my blooda on the ground.

14 He inflicts wound after wound on me.

He lunges at me like a warrior.

15 "I have sewn sackcloth over my skin, and I have thrown my strength in the dust.

16 My face is red from crying, and dark shadows encircle my eyes, 17 although my hands have done nothing violent, and my prayer is sincere.

Job Appeals His Case to Heaven 18 "Earth, don't cover my blood.

Don't ever let my cry for justice be stopped.

19 Even now, look! My witness is in heaven, and the one who testifies for me is above, 20 the spokesman for my thoughts.b My eyes drip with tears to Eloah 22 because in a few short years I will take the path of no return.c 21 But my witness will plead for a human in front of Eloah .

The Son of Man will plead for his friend!

Job Pleads with God to Declare Him Honest 171 "My spirit is broken.

My days have been snuffed out.

The cemetery is waiting for me.

2 Certainly, mockers are around me.

My eyes are focused on their opposition.

3 Please guarantee my bail yourself.

Who else will guarantee it with a handshake?

4 You have closed their minds so that they cannot understand.d That is why you will not honor them.

5 (Whoever turns in friends to get their property should have his children's eyesight fail.) Job Says to His Friends: I'm Still Wiser Than You 6 "Now he has made me a laughingstock for many people.

Now they spit in my face.

7 Now my eyes are blurred from grief.

Now all my limbs are like a shadow.

8 Decent people are shocked by this, and it stirs up the innocent against godless people.

9 Yet, the righteous person clings to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger.

10 "But now, all of you, come and try again!

I won't find one wise man among you.

11 My days are passing by.

My plans are broken.

My dreams are shattered.

12 You say that night is day.

Light has nearly become darkness.

13 If I look for the grave as my home and make my bed in the darkness, 14 if I say to the pit, 'You are my father,'

and to the worm, 'You are my mother and sister,'

15 then where is my hope?

Can you see any hope left in me?

16 Will hope go down with me to the gates of the grave?

Will my hope rest with me in the dust?"

Bildad Speaks: Why Do You Think You Are So Great, Job?

181 Then Bildad from Shuah replied to Job, 2 "How long before your words will end?

Think it through, and then we'll talk.

3 Why do you think of us as cattle?

Why are we considered stupid in your eyes?

4 Why do you rip yourself apart in anger?

Should the earth be abandoned for your sake or a boulder be dislodged?

What a Wicked Person Can Expect from Life 5 "Indeed, the light of the wicked is snuffed out.

The flame of his fire stops glowing.

6 The light in his tent becomes dark, and the lamp above him is snuffed out.

7 "His healthy stride is shortened, and his own planning trips him up.

8 His own feet get him tangled in a net as he walks around on its webbing.

9 A trap catches his heel.

A snare holds him.

10 A rope is hidden on the ground for him.

A trap is on his path to catch him.

11 "Terrors suddenly pounce on him from every side and chase him every step he takes.

12 Hunger undermines his strength.

Disaster is waiting beside him.

13 His skin is eaten away by disease.

Death's firstborn son eats away at the limbs of his body.

14 He is dragged from the safety of his tent and marched off to the king of terrors.

15 Fire lives in his tent.

Sulfur is scattered over his home.

16 His roots dry up under him.

His branches wither over him.

17 All memory about him will vanish from the earth, and his reputation will not be known on the street corner.

18 He will be driven from the light into the dark and chased out of the world.

19 He will not have any children or descendants among his people or any survivor where he used to live.

20 People in the west are shocked by what happens to him.

People in the east are seized with horror.

21 This is what happens to the homes of wicked people and to those who do not know El ."

Job Speaks: Admit That God Is Mistreating Me 191 Then Job replied to his friends, 2 "How long will you torment me and depress me with words?

3 You have insulted me ten times now.

You're not even ashamed of mistreating me.

4 Even if it were true that I've made a mistake without realizing it, my mistake would affect only me.

5 If you are trying to make yourselves look better than me by using my disgrace as an argument against me, 6 then I want you to know that Eloah has wronged me and surrounded me with his net.

7 Indeed, I cry, 'Help! I'm being attacked!' but I get no response.

I call for help, but there is no justice.

What God Has Done to Me 8 "Eloah has blocked my path so that I can't go on.

He has made my paths dark.

9 He has stripped me of my honor.

He has taken the crown off my head.

10 He beats me down on every side until I'm gone.