16:1   Job said:

16:2   I have often heard this, and it offers no comfort.

16:3   So why don't you keep quiet? What's bothering you?

16:4   If I were in your place, it would be easy to criticize or to give advice.

16:5   But I would offer hope and comfort instead.

16:6   If I speak, or if I don't, I hurt all the same. My torment continues.

16:7   God has worn me down and destroyed my family;

16:8   my shriveled up skin proves that I am his prisoner.

16:9   God is my hateful enemy, glaring at me and attacking with his sharp teeth.

16:10   Everyone is against me; they sneer and slap my face.

16:11   And God is the one who handed me over to this merciless mob.

16:12   Everything was going well, until God grabbed my neck and shook me to pieces. God set me up as the target

16:13   for his arrows, and without showing mercy, he slashed my stomach open, spilling out my insides.

16:14   God never stops attacking,

16:15   and so, in my sorrow I dress in sackcloth and sit in the dust.

16:16   My face is red with tears, and dark shadows circle my eyes,

16:17   though I am not violent, and my prayers are sincere.

16:18   If I should die, I beg the earth not to cover my cry for justice.

16:19   Even now, God in heaven is both my witness and my protector.

16:20   My friends have rejected me, but God is the one I beg

16:21   to show that I am right, just as a friend should.

16:22   Because in only a few years, I will be dead and gone.