1125 - Job’s Fifth Speech was a Response to Eliphaz’s Continuing Harshness

Job’s Fifth Speech was a Response to Eliphaz’s Continuing Harshness 


So, Job spoke again:


“I have heard all this before.


What miserable comforters you are!


Won’t you ever stop blowing hot air?


What makes you keep on talking?


I could say the same things, if you were in my place.


I could spout off criticism, and shake my head at you.


But if it were me, I would encourage you.


I would try to take away your grief.


Instead, I suffer, if I defend myself,

and I suffer no less, if I refuse to speak.


“O God, you have ground me down, and devastated my family.


As if to prove, that I have sinned, you’ve reduced me to skin and bones.


My gaunt flesh testifies against me.


God hates me, and angrily tears me apart.


He snaps His teeth at me, and pierces me with His eyes.


People jeer and laugh at me.


They slap my cheek, in contempt.


A mob gathers against me.


God has handed me over, to sinners.


He has tossed me, into the hands of the wicked.


“I was living quietly, until He shattered me.


He took me by the neck, and broke me in pieces.


Then, He set me up, as His target,

and now His archers surround me.


His arrows pierce me, without mercy.


The ground is wet, with my blood.


Again and again, He smashes against me, charging at me, like a warrior.


I wear burlap to show my grief.


My pride lies in the dust.


My eyes are red with weeping; dark shadows circle my eyes.


Yet I have done no wrong, and my prayer is pure.


“O earth, do not conceal my blood.


Let it cry out, on my behalf.


Even now, my witness is in heaven.


My advocate (Jesus) is there on high.


My friends scorn me, but I pour out my tears to God.


I need someone to mediate between God and me, as a person mediates between friends. (Thanks be to Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior)


For soon I must go down that road,

from which I will never return.


Holy Bible: 

New Living Translation. 

Tyndale House Publishers.


Job 16:1-22


Praise be to God!


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