Job’s Reply to Eliphaz

1Then Job answered:

2I have heard many things like these.

You are all miserable comforters. a

3Is there no end to your empty b  c words?

What provokes you that you continue testifying?

4If you were in my place I could also talk like you.

I could string words together against you

and shake my head at you.

5Instead, I would encourage you with my mouth,

and the consolation from my lips would bring relief. d

6Even if I speak, my suffering is not relieved,

and if I hold back, what have I lost?

7Surely He e has now exhausted me.

You have devastated my entire family.

8You have shriveled me up f — it has become a witness;

My frailty rises up against me and testifies to my face.

9His anger tears at me, and He harasses g me.

He gnashes His teeth at me.

My enemy pierces me with His eyes.

10They open their mouths against me

and strike my cheeks with contempt; h

they join themselves together against me.

11God hands me over to unjust men; i

He throws me into the hands of the wicked.

12I was at ease, but He shattered me;

He seized me by the scruff of the neck

and smashed me to pieces.

He set me up as His target; j

13His archers k surround me.

He pierces my kidneys without mercy

and pours my bile on the ground.

14He breaks through my defenses again and again; l

He charges at me like a warrior. m

15I have sewn ^•sackcloth over my skin;

I have buried my strength n in the dust. o

16My face has grown red with weeping,

and darkness p covers my eyes,

17although my hands are free from violence q

and my prayer is pure.

18Earth, do not cover my blood;

may my cry for help find no resting place. r

19Even now my witness is in heaven,

and my advocate is in the heights! s

20My friends scoff at me

as I weep before God.

21I wish that someone might arbitrate

between a man and God t

just as a ^•man pleads for his friend.

22For only a few years will pass

before I go the way of no return.