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Chapter 16 |
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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 emboldeneth thee that thou answerest?
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| 4 | I also could speak as ye do: if your soul were in my soul's stead, I
could heap up words against you, and shake mine head at you. |
| 5 | But I
would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should asswage
your grief. |
| 6
| Though I speak, my grief is not asswaged: and though I
forbear, what am I eased? |
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7 | But now he hath made me weary: thou
hast made desolate all my company. |
| 8 | And thou hast filled me with
wrinkles, which is a witness against me: and my leanness rising up in me
beareth witness to my face. |
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9 | He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth
me: he gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon
me. |
| 10 |
They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me
upon the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against
me. |
| 11 |
God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into
the hands of the wicked. |
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12 | I was at ease, but he hath broken me
asunder: he hath also taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces, and set me
up for his mark. |
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13 | His archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my
reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the
ground. |
| 14
| He breaketh me with breach upon breach, he runneth upon
me like a giant. |
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15 | I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and defiled my
horn in the dust. |
| 16 | My face is foul with weeping, and on my
eyelids is the shadow of death; |
| 17 | Not for any injustice in mine
hands: also my prayer is pure. |
| 18 | O earth, cover not thou my
blood, and let my cry have no place. |
| 19 | Also now, behold, my witness
is in heaven, and my record is on high. |
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20 | My friends scorn me: but
mine eye poureth out tears unto God. |
| 21 | O that one might plead for a
man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour! |
| 22 | When a few
years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return. |