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Job 16 (CEV)

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