New Living Translation

1 Then Job spoke again: 2 “I have heard all this before.<br>What miserable comforters you are!<br> 3 Won’t you ever stop blowing hot air?<br>What makes you keep on talking?<br> 4 I could say the same things if you were in my place.<br>I could spout off criticism and shake my head at you.<br> 5 But if it were me, I would encourage you.<br>I would try to take away your grief.<br> 6 Instead, I suffer if I defend myself,<br>and I suffer no less if I refuse to speak.<br> 7 “O God (Elohim), you have ground me down<br>and devastated my family.<br> 8 As if to prove I have sinned, you’ve reduced me to skin and bones.<br>My gaunt flesh testifies against me.<br> 9 God (Elohim) hates me and angrily tears me apart.<br>He snaps his teeth at me<br>and pierces me with his eyes.<br> 10 People jeer and laugh at me.<br>They slap my cheek in contempt.<br>A mob gathers against me.<br> 11 God (Elohim) has handed me over to sinners.<br>He has tossed me into the hands of the wicked.<br> 12 “I was living quietly until he shattered me.<br>He took me by the neck and broke me in pieces.<br>Then he set me up as his target,<br> 13 and now his archers surround me.<br>His arrows pierce me without mercy.<br>The ground is wet with my blood.<br> 14 Again and again he smashes against me,<br>charging at me like a warrior.<br> 15 I wear burlap to show my grief.<br>My pride lies in the dust.<br> 16 My eyes are red with weeping;<br>dark shadows circle my eyes.<br> 17 Yet I have done no wrong,<br>and my prayer is pure.<br> 18 “O earth, do not conceal my blood.<br>Let it cry out on my behalf.<br> 19 Even now my witness is in heaven.<br>My advocate is there on high.<br> 20 My friends scorn me,<br>but I pour out my tears to God (Elohim).<br> 21 I need someone to mediate between God (Elohim) and me,<br>as a person mediates between friends.<br> 22 For soon I must go down that road<br>from which I will never return.<br>