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Job 2

Key Terms

Horn (Symbol) 2

Job Decries His Comforters

1Then Job answered:

2“I have heard many things like these;miserable comforters are you all.3Is there no end to your long-winded speeches?What provokes you to continue testifying?4I could also speak like youif you were in my place;I could heap up words against youand shake my head at you.5But I would encourage you with my mouth,and the consolation of my lips would bring relief.
6Even if I speak, my pain is not relieved,and if I hold back, how will it go away?7Surely He has now exhausted me;You have devastated all my family.8You have bound me, and it has become a witness;my frailty rises up and testifies against me.
ⓘ They open their mouths against me: Job was...
9His anger has torn me and opposed me;He gnashes His teeth at me.My adversary pierces me with His eyes.
10They open their mouths against meand strike my cheeks with contempt;they join together against me.11God has delivered me to unjust men;He has thrown me to the clutches of the wicked.12I was at ease, but He shattered me;He seized me by the neck and crushed me.He has set me up as His target;13His archers surround me.He pierces my kidneys without mercyand spills my gall on the ground.14He breaks me with wound upon wound;He rushes me like a mighty warrior.
15I have sewn sackcloth over my skin;I have buried my horn in the dust.16My face is red with weeping,and deep shadows ring my eyes;17yet my hands are free of violenceand my prayer is pure.
ⓘ Job thought his suffering would lead to his...

Job thought his suffering would lead to his death (7:7, 21; 10:20–22). He asked God to show his innocence, even if he died before that happened.
18O earth, do not cover my blood;may my cry for help never be laid to rest.
ⓘ my witness is in heaven: Job wished for...

my witness is in heaven: Job wished for a kind third party to be "a mediator" between him and God (see 9:32–35). Job wanted a heavenly advocate who would eventually stand on the earth (16:19; compare Zechariah 3:1; Job 19:25; compare 1 Samuel 24:15; John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7; 1 John 2:1).
19Even now my witness is in heaven,and my advocate is on high.20My friends are my scoffersas my eyes pour out tears to God.21Oh, that a man might plead with Godas he pleads with his neighbor!22For when only a few years are pastI will go the way of no return.