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