Job 16
← Job · American Standard Version
Job 16
American Standard Version
1
Then Job answered and said,
2
I have heard many such things:
Miserable comforters are ye all.
3
Shall vain words have an end?
Or what provoketh thee that thou answerest?
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I also could speak as ye do;
If your soul were in my soul’s stead,
I could join words together against you,
And shake my head at you.
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But I would strengthen you with my mouth,
And the solace of my lips would assuage your grief.
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Though I speak, my grief is not assuaged;
And though I forbear, what am I eased?
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But now he hath made me weary:
Thou hast made desolate all my company.
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And thou hast laid fast hold on me, which is a witness against me:
And my leanness riseth up against me,
It testifieth to my face.
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He hath torn me in his wrath, and persecuted me;
He hath gnashed upon me with his teeth:
Mine adversary sharpeneth his eyes upon me.
10
They have gaped upon me with their mouth;
They have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully:
They gather themselves together against me.
11
God delivereth me to the ungodly,
And casteth me into the hands of the wicked.
12
I was at ease, and he brake me asunder;
Yea, he hath taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces:
He hath also set me up for his mark.
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His archers compass me round about;
He cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare;
He poureth out my gall upon the ground.
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He breaketh me with breach upon breach;
He runneth upon me like a giant.
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I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin,
And have laid my horn in the dust.
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My face is red with weeping,
And on my eyelids is the shadow of death;
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Although there is no violence in my hands,
And my prayer is pure.
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O earth, cover not thou my blood,
And let my cry have no resting-place.
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Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven,
And he that voucheth for me is on high.
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My friends scoff at me:
But mine eye poureth out tears unto God,
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That he would maintain the right of a man with God,
And of a son of man with his neighbor!
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For when a few years are come,
I shall go the way whence I shall not return.