1Then Job replied:

2“I have heard many things like these before.
What miserable comforters are you all!

3Will there be an end to your windy words?
Or what provokes you that you answer?

4I also could speak like you,
if you were in my place;
I could pile up words against you
and I could shake my head at you.

5But I would strengthen you with my words;
comfort from my lips would bring you relief.

Abandonment by God and Man

6“But if I speak, my pain is not relieved,
and if I refrain from speaking
– how much of it goes away?

7Surely now he has worn me out,
you have devastated my entire household.

8You have seized me,
and it has become a witness;
my leanness has risen up against me
and testifies against me.

9His anger has torn me and persecuted me;
he has gnashed at me with his teeth;
my adversary locks his eyes on me.

10People have opened their mouths against me,
they have struck my cheek in scorn;
they unite together against me.

11God abandons me to evil men,
and throws me into the hands of wicked men.

12I was in peace, and he has shattered me.
He has seized me by the neck and crushed me.
He has made me his target;

13his archers surround me.
Without pity he pierces my kidneys
and pours out my gall on the ground.

14He breaks through against me, time and time again;
he rushes against me like a warrior.

15I have sewed sackcloth on my skin,
and buried my horn in the dust;

16my face is reddened because of weeping,
and on my eyelids there is a deep darkness,

17although there is no violence in my hands
and my prayer is pure.

An Appeal to God as Witness

18“O earth, do not cover my blood,
nor let there be a secret place for my cry.

19Even now my witness is in heaven;
my advocate is on high.

20My intercessor is my friend
as my eyes pour out tears to God;

21and he contends with God on behalf of man
as a man pleads for his friend.

22For the years that lie ahead are few,
and then I will go on the way of no return.