16:1  THEN JOB answered,

16:2  I have heard many such things; wearisome {and} miserable comforters are you all!

16:3  Will your futile words of wind have no end? Or what makes you so bold to answer [me like this]?

16:4  I also could speak as you do, if you were in my stead; I could join words together against you and shake my head at you.

16:5  [But] I would strengthen {and} encourage you with [the words of] my mouth, and the consolation of my lips would soothe your suffering.

16:6  If I speak [to you miserable comforters], my sorrow is not soothed {or} lessened; and if I refrain [from speaking], in what way am I eased? [I hardly know whether to answer you or be silent.]

16:7  But now [God] has taken away my strength. You [O Lord] have made desolate all my family {and} associates.

16:8  You have laid firm hold on me {and} have shriveled me up, which is a witness against me; and my leanness [and wretched state of body] are further evidence [against me]; [they] testify to my face.

16:9  [My adversary Satan] has torn [me] in his wrath and hated {and} persecuted me; he has gnashed upon me with his teeth; my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.

16:10  [The forces of evil] have gaped at me with their mouths; they have struck me upon the cheek insolently; they massed themselves together {and} conspired unanimously against me.

16:11  God has delivered me to the ungodly (to the evil one) and cast me [headlong] into the hands of the wicked (Satan's host).

16:12  I was living at ease, but [Satan] crushed me {and} broke me apart; yes, he seized me by the neck and dashed me in pieces; then he set me up for his target.

16:13  [Satan's] arrows whiz around me. He slashes open my vitals and does not spare; he pours out my gall on the ground.

16:14  [Satan] stabs me, making breach after breach {and} attacking again and again; he runs at me like a giant {and} irresistible warrior.

16:15  I have sewed sackcloth over my skin [as a sign of mourning] and have defiled my horn (my insignia of strength) in the dust.

16:16  My face is red {and} swollen with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death [my eyes are dimmed],

16:17  Although there is no guilt {or} violence in my hands and my prayer is pure.

16:18  O earth, cover not my blood, and let my cry have no resting-place [where it will cease being heard].

16:19  Even now, behold, my Witness is in heaven, and He who vouches for me is on high.

16:20  My friends scorn me, but my eye pours out tears to God.

16:21  Oh, that there might be one who would plead for a man with God {and} that he would maintain his right with Him, as a son of man pleads with {or} for his neighbor!

16:22  For when a few years are come, I shall go the way from which I shall not return.