Job's Reply to Eliphaz
I Have Often Heard This
1Job said:
2I have often heard this,
and it offers no comfort.
3So why don't you keep quiet?
What's bothering you?
4If I were in your place,
it would be easy to criticize
or to give advice.
5But I would offer hope
and comfort instead.
6If I speak, or if I don't,
I hurt all the same.
My torment continues.
7God has worn me down
and destroyed my family;
8my shriveled up skin proves
that I am his prisoner.
9God is my hateful enemy,
glaring at me and attacking
with his sharp teeth.
10Everyone is against me;
they sneer and slap my face.
11And God is the one
who handed me over
to this merciless mob.
Everything Was Going Well
12Everything was going well,
until God grabbed my neck
and shook me to pieces.
God set me up as the target
13for his arrows,
and without showing mercy,
he slashed my stomach open,
spilling out my insides.
14God never stops attacking,
15and so, in my sorrow
I dress in sackcloth
and sit in the dust.
16My face is red with tears,
and dark shadows
circle my eyes,
17though I am not violent,
and my prayers are sincere.
18If I should die,
I beg the earth not to cover
my cry for justice.
19 Even now, God in heaven
is both my witness
and my protector.
20My friends have rejected me,
but God is the one I beg
21to show that I am right,
just as a friend should.
22Because in only a few years,
I will be dead and gone.