Job 16
God hates me
Job’s comforters stink
1Job answered:2Gentlemen, I’ve heard all that before.
As comforters, you’re stinking up the place.
3How much hot air can one man blow?
Why do you talk so much?
4If we could flip roles
I could talk at you like you talked at me.
I could string words like a singing lawyer [1]
And shake my finger in your face.
5But I wouldn’t.
Instead, I’d encourage you.
I’d try to make you feel better
With words of reassurance and comfort.
6I'll tell you this, complaining doesn't help.
Bottling it up inside doesn't help, either.
Job: God beat me up
7God has beaten me up and broken me down.He killed my family.
8He shriveled my body gaunt.
Then he put it on display,
Evidence in His case against me.
I see that evidence every day.
9God hates me and hurts me.
He tears into me
like an animal with sharp teeth.
My enemies see this
And they come at me, too.
10They bad-mouth me to my face.
They slap me around.
They gang up on me,
And make a party of it.
11God throws me to the wicked
Like fresh meat to the dogs.
Job: God is gutting me
12My life was great until he broke me.He grabbed me by the throat,
Beat me into a bag of busted bones,
Then hung me on the wall as his target.
13And then he called the archers.
Showing no mercy,
He cut me open to my kidneys,
Then dumped my guts on the ground.
14He sliced me open again and again.
He charges at me like a warrior in battle.
15I humbled myself before him
Dressing in sackcloth
And lying flat in the dust.
16I’ve cried myself red in the face
And dark in the eyes.
17I don’t intend to hurt anyone.
My intentions are peaceful
And my prayers are sincere.
18When I die, leave my blood.
If it reminds people about me,
Perhaps someone will clear my name.
19There's already a witness [2] for me in heaven.
My advocate is working for me right now.
20I disgust my friends,
And I cry about that as I pray.
21I fully intend to argue my case
As a mortal with a charge against God, [3]
Like one might take a neighbor to court.
22For within a few years I'll be gone
And that's the last this world will see of me.
Footnotes
There’s no “singing lawyer” in the Hebrew text. But the point Job is trying to make is that he can shout out stanzas of lofty Hebrew poetry with the best of them. So, he’s not impressed with Eliphaz or the other visitors who are trying to convince him to admit his sin and plead for mercy from God, for Job’s not getting much of that from them.
Bible scholars debate who that witness is. Some say it is God himself. However, Job thinks God is on the other side. At the end of the story, God certainly is the one who defends Job. But it’s anyone’s guess who Job at this point thinks that witness is. Some guess Job may think his prayers are a witness on his behalf. He may also think that when he dies, the blood of an innocent man will serve as his witness and will vindicate him, clear his name, and restore his reputation.
It might sound as though Job plants to debate God in heaven, but the Hebrew ancestors of today’s Jewish people didn’t seem to have a concept of an afterlife in heaven, or perhaps anywhere. They spoke of going to be with their fathers, but that could sound like a euphemism for “I’m going to die.” They also often spoke of Sheol, a Hebrew word for the place of the dead, where no one ever comes back. Greeks later translated the word as “Hades.”
Discussion Questions
- Sorry, there are currently no questions for this chapter.
