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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Job 16 CEV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/job/16.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/job/16-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">CEV</a> > Job 16</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../job/15.htm" title="Job 15">◄</a> Job 16 <a href="../job/17.htm" title="Job 17">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Contemporary English Version</div><div class="chap"><h5 class="sp">Job's Reply to Eliphaz</h5><h3 class="s1">I Have Often Heard This</h3><p class="q1"><span class="v18_16_1"><span class="reftext" id="Job.16.1" class="v18_16_1">1</span>Job said:</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v18_16_2"><span class="reftext" id="Job.16.2" class="v18_16_2">2</span>I have often heard this,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v18_16_2">and it offers no comfort.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v18_16_3"><span class="reftext" id="Job.16.3" class="v18_16_3">3</span>So why don't you keep quiet?</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v18_16_3">What's bothering you?</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v18_16_4"><span class="reftext" id="Job.16.4" class="v18_16_4">4</span>If I were in your place,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v18_16_4">it would be easy to criticize</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v18_16_4">or to give advice.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v18_16_5"><span class="reftext" id="Job.16.5" class="v18_16_5">5</span>But I would offer hope</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v18_16_5">and comfort instead.</span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="q1"><span class="v18_16_6"><span class="reftext" id="Job.16.6" class="v18_16_6">6</span>If I speak, or if I don't,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v18_16_6">I hurt all the same.</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v18_16_6">My torment continues.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v18_16_7"><span class="reftext" id="Job.16.7" class="v18_16_7">7</span>God has worn me down</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v18_16_7">and destroyed my family;</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v18_16_8"><span class="reftext" id="Job.16.8" class="v18_16_8">8</span>my shriveled up skin proves</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v18_16_8">that I am his prisoner.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v18_16_9"><span class="reftext" id="Job.16.9" class="v18_16_9">9</span>God is my hateful enemy,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v18_16_9">glaring at me and attacking</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v18_16_9">with his sharp teeth.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v18_16_10"><span class="reftext" id="Job.16.10" class="v18_16_10">10</span>Everyone is against me;</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v18_16_10">they sneer and slap my face.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v18_16_11"><span class="reftext" id="Job.16.11" class="v18_16_11">11</span>And God is the one</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v18_16_11">who handed me over</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v18_16_11">to this merciless mob.</span></p><h3 class="s1">Everything Was Going Well</h3><p class="q1"><span class="v18_16_12"><span class="reftext" id="Job.16.12" class="v18_16_12">12</span>Everything was going well,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v18_16_12">until God grabbed my neck</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v18_16_12">and shook me to pieces.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v18_16_12">God set me up as the target</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v18_16_13"><span class="reftext" id="Job.16.13" class="v18_16_13">13</span>for his arrows,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v18_16_13">and without showing mercy,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v18_16_13">he slashed my stomach open,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v18_16_13">spilling out my insides.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v18_16_14"><span class="reftext" id="Job.16.14" class="v18_16_14">14</span>God never stops attacking,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v18_16_15"><span class="reftext" id="Job.16.15" class="v18_16_15">15</span>and so, in my sorrow</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v18_16_15">I dress in sackcloth<a href="#fn" id="link_Job.16.15!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v18_16_15">and sit in the dust.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v18_16_16"><span class="reftext" id="Job.16.16" class="v18_16_16">16</span>My face is red with tears,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v18_16_16">and dark shadows</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v18_16_16">circle my eyes,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v18_16_17"><span class="reftext" id="Job.16.17" class="v18_16_17">17</span>though I am not violent,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v18_16_17">and my prayers are sincere.</span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="q1"><span class="v18_16_18"><span class="reftext" id="Job.16.18" class="v18_16_18">18</span>If I should die,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v18_16_18">I beg the earth not to cover</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v18_16_18">my cry for justice.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v18_16_19"><span class="reftext" id="Job.16.19" class="v18_16_19">19</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Job.16.19!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Even now, God in heaven</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v18_16_19">is both my witness</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v18_16_19">and my protector.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v18_16_20"><span class="reftext" id="Job.16.20" class="v18_16_20">20</span>My friends have rejected me,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v18_16_20">but God is the one I beg<a href="#fn" id="link_Job.16.20!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v18_16_21"><span class="reftext" id="Job.16.21" class="v18_16_21">21</span>to show that I am right,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v18_16_21">just as a friend should.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v18_16_22"><span class="reftext" id="Job.16.22" class="v18_16_22">22</span>Because in only a few years,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v18_16_22">I will be dead and gone.</span></p> <a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">16.15 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">sackcloth: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">A rough, dark-colored cloth made from goat hair and used to make grain sacks. It was worn in times of trouble or sorrow.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">16.20 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">My friends … beg: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Or “God is my friend, and he is the one I beg.”</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Bible text from the Contemporary English Version 2nd Edition (CEV®) is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by American Bible Society, 101 North Independence Mall East, Floor 8, Philadelphia, PA 19106-2155 (<a href="http://www.americanbible.org">www.americanbible.org</a>). Learn more at <a href="http://www.cev.bible">www.cev.bible</a>. 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