Job 16

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 Then Job answered and said:	1 Then Job, answering, said:
2 I have heard this sort of thing many times. Wearisome comforters are you all!	2 I have often heard such things; you are all aggravating comforters.
3 Is there no end to windy words? Or what sickness have you that you speak on?	3 Will there be no end to windy words? Or is it at all a burden to you, if you speak?
4 I also could talk as you do, were you in my place. I could declaim over you, or wag my head at you;	4 I, too, can speak like you; and I also wish that your soul favored my soul.
5 I could strengthen you with talk, or shake my head with silent lips.	5 I would also comfort you with speeches and would wag my head over you.
6 If I speak, this pain I have will not be checked; if I leave off, it will not depart from me.	6 I would strengthen you with my mouth, and would move my lips, as if being lenient to you.
7 But now that I am exhausted and stunned, all my company has closed in on me.	7 But what can I do? When I am speaking, my grief will not be quiet; and if I am quiet, it will not withdraw from me.
8 As a witness there rises up my traducer, speaking openly against me;	8 But now my grief has crushed me, and all my limbs have been reduced to nothing.
9 I am the prey his wrath assails, he gnashes his teeth against me. My enemies lord it over me;	9 My wrinkles bear witness against me, and a liar rises up against my face, contradicting me.
10 their mouths are agape to bite me. They smite me on the cheek insultingly; they are all enlisted against me.	10 He has gathered together his fury towards me, and, threatening me, he has roared against me with his teeth; my enemy has beheld me with terrible eyes.
11 God has given me over to the impious; into the clutches of the wicked he has cast me.	11 They have opened their mouths against me, and, reproaching me, they have struck me on the cheek; they are nourished by my sufferings.
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;	12 God has confined me with the immoral, and he has delivered me into the hands of the impious.
13 his arrows strike me from all directions, He pierces my sides without mercy, he pours out my gall upon the ground.	13 I, who once was wealthy, am now crushed. He has grabbed me by my neck; he has broken me and has place me before him as a sign.
14 He pierces me with thrust upon thrust; he attacks me like a warrior.	14 He has surrounded me with his lances. He has severely wounded my lower back, he has not been lenient, and he has poured out my organs upon the earth.
15 I have fastened sackcloth over my skin, and have laid my brow in the dust.	15 He has cut me with wound after wound. He has rushed upon me like a giant.
16 My face is inflamed with weeping and there is darkness over my eyes,	16 I have sewn sackcloth over my skin, and I have covered my body with ashes.
17 Although my hands are free from violence, and my prayer is sincere.	17 My face is swollen from weeping, and my eyelids have dimmed my vision.
18 O earth, cover not my blood, nor let my outcry come to rest!	18 These things I have endured without iniquity in my hand, while I held pure prayers before God.
19 Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my spokesman is on high.	19 O earth, do not conceal my blood, nor let my outcry find a hiding place in you.
20 My friends it is who wrong me; before God my eyes drop tears,	20 For behold, my witness is in heaven, and my confidante is on high.
21 That he may do justice for a mortal in his presence and decide between a man and his neighbor.	21 My friends are full of words; my eye rains tears upon God.
22 For my years are numbered now, and I am on a journey from which I shall not return.	22 And I wish that a man might be so judged before God, just as the son of man is judged with his assistant!
	23 For behold, a few years pass by, and I am walking a path by which I will not return.