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16:1  Job then answered with these words:
16:2  “I have heard similar comments on many occasions; what wretched comforters you all are!
16:3  When will you cease your endless flow of foolish words? Or what sickness afflicts you that you never cease babbling?
16:4  “I could also rant on as you do, if you were in my place. I could exhaust you with my words and shake my head at you.
16:5  But I would offer words of encouragement, and comfort from my lips would alleviate your pain.
16:6  When I speak, my suffering is not eased, and if I remain silent, my pain does not stop.
16:7  “Truly, my pain has left me exhausted, and you have devastated my entire family.
16:8  You have risen up as a witness against me; my gaunt appearance offers clear testimony to my plight.
16:9  Your anger has caused you to assail me, and you gnash your teeth against me. My enemies lord it over me;
16:10  they open their mouths to mock me. They strike me insolently on the cheek; they have all joined in league against me.
16:11  “God has left me as prey for the godless and handed me over to the power of the wicked.
16:12  I was living at peace until he crushed me; he seized me by the neck and broke me into pieces, setting me up as a target.
16:13  His archers encompass me on every side; he pierces my loins without mercy and pours out my gall upon the ground.
16:14  He repeatedly bludgeons his way through my defenses and rushes upon me like a warrior.
16:15  “I have sewn sackcloth over my skin and laid my forehead in the dust.
16:16  My face is red from incessant weeping, and dark shadows ring my eyelids,
16:17  even though my hands are free of violence and my prayer is pure.
16:18  “O earth, do not cover my blood; let my cries never cease to be heard.
16:19  Even now my witness is in heaven; my defender is on high.
16:20  Although my friends scorn me, I pour out tears before God,
16:21  pleading that he may listen to me as a person would listen to a neighbor.
16:22  For there are only a few years left to me before I set forth on that journey from which there is no return.