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16:1  Job responded:
16:2  I have heard many things just like these. You are miserable comforters, all of you!
16:3  Is there any end to your windy words? What provokes you to respond like this?
16:4  I also could speak just like you, if your lives were in the same condition that my life is. I could weave fancy words against you and shake my head at you.
16:5  But instead, I would build you up with the words from my mouth, and comforting words from my lips would ease your pain.
16:6  Now if I speak up, it does not lessen my pain, and if I hold back, how much of my pain goes away?
16:7  Surely, he has worn me out! You have devastated everyone close to me.
16:8  You have made me shrivel up, and this testifies against me. My emaciated body stands up and is a witness against me.
16:9  His anger has torn me. He has been hostile to me. He has gnashed his teeth at me. My opponent glares at me with piercing eyes.
16:10  People have opened their mouths wide against me. They have slapped my face with contempt. They have ganged up on me.
16:11  God hands me over to evil people. He throws me into the hands of the wicked.
16:12  When I was at ease, he shattered me. He seized me by the neck and has ripped me to pieces. He has set me up as his target.
16:13  His archers surround me. He pierces my kidneys and has no pity. He pours out my bile on the earth.
16:14  He breaks down my walls in many places. He runs against me like a warrior.
16:15  I have stitched sackcloth to my skin. My horn is stuck in the dust.
16:16  My face is red from my weeping. There are dark circles under my eyes,
16:17  even though there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure.
16:18  O earth, do not cover my blood. Let my cry never find a place to rest.
16:19  Even now, my witness is in heaven. My advocate is on high.
16:20  My intercessor is my friend. My eyes never stop weeping to God.
16:21  My intercessor pleads with God for a man, as another human pleads for his friend.
16:22  A few more years will come. Then I will go the way of no return.