Read the Bible

Job Says Friends Are Sorry Comforters

¹ Then Job answered and said,

² "I have heard many such things;
^(C1)Wearisome and miserable comforters are you all.

³ "Is there no end to your futile ^(C1)words of wind?
Or what plagues you so much that you so boldly answer me like this?

⁴ "I also could speak like you,
If you were in my place;
I could compose and join words together against you
And ^(C1)shake my head at you.

⁵ "But instead I could strengthen and encourage you with the words of my mouth,
And the consolation and solace of my lips would soothe your suffering and lessen your anguish.

Job Says God Shattered Him

⁶ "If I speak to you miserable comforters, ^(C1)my pain is not relieved;
And if I refrain from speaking, what pain or anguish leaves me?

⁷ "But now God has ^(C1)exhausted me.
You O Lord have ^(C2)destroyed all my family and my household.

⁸ "You have taken a firm hold on me and have shriveled me up,
^(C1)It has become a witness against me;
And my ^(C2)leanness and infirmity rises up as evidence against me,
It testifies to my face about my guilt.

⁹ "His wrath has ^(C1)torn me and hunted me down,
He has ^(C2)gnashed at me with his teeth;
My ^(C3)adversary sharpens His gaze and glares with piercing eyes at me.

¹⁰ "They have ^(C1)gaped at me with their mouths,
With contempt they have ^(C2)struck me on the cheek;
They ^(C3)massed themselves together and conspired against me. ^(VR1)

¹¹ "God hands me over to ^(F1)criminals
And tosses me headlong into the hands of the wicked.

¹² "I was living at ease, but ^(C1)He crushed me and broke me apart,
And He has seized me by the neck and has shaken me to pieces;
He has also set me up as His ^(C2)target.

¹³ "His ^(C1)arrows surround me.
He pierces my kidneys (vital organs) without mercy;
He pours out ^(C2)my gall on the ground.

¹⁴ "He ^(C1)attacks me, making wound after wound;
He ^(C2)runs at me like a warrior.

¹⁵ "I have sewed ^(C1)sackcloth over my skin as a sign of mourning
And have ^(C2)defiled my horn (symbol of strength) in the dust.

¹⁶ "My face is red and swollen with ^(C1)weeping,
And on my eyelids is the ^(C2)shadow of death my eyes are dimmed,

¹⁷ Although there is no ^(C1)violence or wrongdoing in my hands,
And ^(C2)my prayer is pure.

¹⁸ "O earth, do not cover my blood,
And let there be no resting place for my cry where it will cease being heard.

¹⁹ "Even now, behold, ^(C1)my Witness is in heaven,
And my Advocate who vouches and testifies for me is ^(C2)on high. ^(VR1)

²⁰ "My friends are scoffers who ridicule;
^(C1)My eye pours out tears to God.

²¹ "Oh, that a man would mediate and plead with God for me
Just as a man mediates and pleads with his neighbor and friend. ^(VR1)

²² "For when a few years are past,
I shall go the way ^(C1)of no return.