1. THEN JOB answered,
2. I have heard many such things; wearisome and miserable comforters are you all!
3. Will your futile words of wind have no end? Or what makes you so bold to answer [me like this]?
4. I also could speak as you do, if you were in my stead; I could join words together against you and shake my head at you.
5. [But] I would strengthen and encourage you with [the words of] my mouth, and the consolation of my lips would soothe your suffering.
6. If I speak [to you miserable comforters], my sorrow is not soothed or lessened; and if I refrain [from speaking], in what way am I eased? [I hardly know whether to answer you or be silent.]
7. But now [God] has taken away my strength. You [O Lord] have made desolate all my family and associates.
8. You have laid firm hold on me and have shriveled me up, which is a witness against me; and my leanness [and wretched state of body] are further evidence [against me]; [they] testify to my face.
9. [My adversary Satan] has torn [me] in his wrath and hated and persecuted me; he has gnashed upon me with his teeth; my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.
10. [The forces of evil] have gaped at me with their mouths; they have struck me upon the cheek insolently; they massed themselves together and conspired unanimously against me. [Ps. 22:13; 35:21.]
11. God has delivered me to the ungodly (to the evil one) and cast me [headlong] into the hands of the wicked (Satan's host).
12. I was living at ease, but [Satan] crushed me and broke me apart; yes, he seized me by the neck and dashed me in pieces; then he set me up for his target.