Job 16

KING JAMES BIBLE	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 Then Job answered and said,	1 Then Job answered and said:
2 I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all.	2 I have heard this sort of thing many times. Wearisome comforters are you all!
3 Shall vain words have an end? or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest?	3 Is there no end to windy words? Or what sickness have you that you speak on?
4 I also could speak as ye do: if your soul were in my soul's stead, I could heap up words against you, and shake mine head at you.	4 I also could talk as you do, were you in my place. I could declaim over you, or wag my head at you;
5 But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should asswage your grief.	5 I could strengthen you with talk, or shake my head with silent lips.
6 Though I speak, my grief is not asswaged: and though I forbear, what am I eased?	6 If I speak, this pain I have will not be checked; if I leave off, it will not depart from me.
7 But now he hath made me weary: thou hast made desolate all my company.	7 But now that I am exhausted and stunned, all my company has closed in on me.
8 And thou hast filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me: and my leanness rising up in me beareth witness to my face.	8 As a witness there rises up my traducer, speaking openly against me;
9 He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me: he gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me.	9 I am the prey his wrath assails, he gnashes his teeth against me. My enemies lord it over me;
10 They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against me.	10 their mouths are agape to bite me. They smite me on the cheek insultingly; they are all enlisted against me.
11 God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked.	11 God has given me over to the impious; into the clutches of the wicked he has cast me.
12 I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder: he hath also taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark.	12 I was in peace, but he dislodged me; he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces. He has set me up for a target;
13 His archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground.	13 his arrows strike me from all directions, He pierces my sides without mercy, he pours out my gall upon the ground.
14 He breaketh me with breach upon breach, he runneth upon me like a giant.	14 He pierces me with thrust upon thrust; he attacks me like a warrior.
15 I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and defiled my horn in the dust.	15 I have fastened sackcloth over my skin, and have laid my brow in the dust.
16 My face is foul with weeping, and my eyelids is the shadow of death;	16 My face is inflamed with weeping and there is darkness over my eyes,
17 Not for any injustice in mine hands: also my prayer is pure.	17 Although my hands are free from violence, and my prayer is sincere.
18 O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place.	18 O earth, cover not my blood, nor let my outcry come to rest!
19 Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high.	19 Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my spokesman is on high.
20 My friends scorn me: but mine eye poureth out tears unto God.	20 My friends it is who wrong me; before God my eyes drop tears,
21 O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour!	21 That he may do justice for a mortal in his presence and decide between a man and his neighbor.
22 When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return.	22 For my years are numbered now, and I am on a journey from which I shall not return.