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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 [fn] 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. [fn] ¹⁵ "I have sewn sackcloth over my skin,And laid my head [fn] 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.