Why?

² “Would a wise person answer with empty notions
or fill their belly with the hot east wind?
³ Would they argue with useless words,
with speeches that have no value?
⁴ But you even undermine piety
and hinder devotion to God.
⁵ Your sin prompts your mouth;
you adopt the tongue of the crafty.
⁶ Your own mouth condemns you, not mine;
your own lips testify against you.

⁷ “Are you the first man ever born?
Were you brought forth before the hills?
⁸ Do you listen in on God’s council?
Do you have a monopoly on wisdom?
⁹ What do you know that we do not know?
What insights do you have that we do not have?
¹⁰ The gray-haired and the aged are on our side,
men even older than your father.
¹¹ Are God’s consolations not enough for you,
words spoken gently to you?
¹² Why has your heart carried you away,
and why do your eyes flash,
¹³ so that you vent your rage against God
and pour out such words from your mouth?

¹⁴ “What are mortals, that they could be pure,
or those born of woman, that they could be righteous?
¹⁵ If God places no trust in his holy ones,
if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes,
¹⁶ how much less mortals, who are vile and corrupt,
who drink up evil like water!

¹⁷ “Listen to me and I will explain to you;
let me tell you what I have seen,
¹⁸ what the wise have declared,
hiding nothing received from their ancestors
¹⁹ (to whom alone the land was given
when no foreigners moved among them):
²⁰ All his days the wicked man suffers torment,
the ruthless man through all the years stored up for him.
²¹ Terrifying sounds fill his ears;
when all seems well, marauders attack him.
²² He despairs of escaping the realm of darkness;
he is marked for the sword.
²³ He wanders about for food like a vulture;
he knows the day of darkness is at hand.
²⁴ Distress and anguish fill him with terror;
troubles overwhelm him, like a king poised to attack,
²⁵ because he shakes his fist at God
and vaunts himself against the Almighty,
²⁶ defiantly charging against him
with a thick, strong shield.

²⁷ “Though his face is covered with fat
and his waist bulges with flesh,
²⁸ he will inhabit ruined towns
and houses where no one lives,
houses crumbling to rubble.
²⁹ He will no longer be rich and his wealth will not endure,
nor will his possessions spread over the land.
³⁰ He will not escape the darkness;
a flame will wither his shoots,
and the breath of God’s mouth will carry him away.
³¹ Let him not deceive himself by trusting what is worthless,
for he will get nothing in return.
³² Before his time he will wither,
and his branches will not flourish.
³³ He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes,
like an olive tree shedding its blossoms.
³⁴ For the company of the godless will be barren,
and fire will consume the tents of those who love bribes.
³⁵ They conceive trouble and give birth to evil;
their womb fashions deceit.”

16 Then Job replied:

² “I have heard many things like these;
you are miserable comforters, all of you!
³ Will your long-winded speeches never end?
What ails you that you keep on arguing?
⁴ I also could speak like you,
if you were in my place;
I could make fine speeches against you
and shake my head at you.
⁵ But my mouth would encourage you;
comfort from my lips would bring you relief.

⁶ “Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved;
and if I refrain, it does not go away.
⁷ Surely, God, you have worn me out;
you have devastated my entire household.
⁸ You have shriveled me up—and it has become a witness;
my gauntness rises up and testifies against me.
⁹ God assails me and tears me in his anger
and gnashes his teeth at me;
my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes.
¹⁰ People open their mouths to jeer at me;
they strike my cheek in scorn
and unite together against me.
¹¹ God has turned me over to the ungodly
and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked.
¹² All was well with me, but he shattered me;
he seized me by the neck and crushed me.
He has made me his target;
¹³ his archers surround me.
Without pity, he pierces my kidneys
and spills my gall on the ground.
¹⁴ Again and again he bursts upon me;
he rushes at me like a warrior.

¹⁵ “I have sewed sackcloth over my skin
and buried my brow in the dust.
¹⁶ My face is red with weeping,
dark shadows ring my eyes;
¹⁷ yet my hands have been free of violence
and my prayer is pure.

¹⁸ “Earth, do not cover my blood;
may my cry never be laid to rest!
¹⁹ Even now my witness is in heaven;
my advocate is on high.
²⁰ My intercessor is my friend
as my eyes pour out tears to God;
²¹ on behalf of a man he pleads with God
as one pleads for a friend.

²² “Only a few years will pass
before I take the path of no return.

17 ¹ My spirit is broken,
my days are cut short,
the grave awaits me.
² Surely mockers surround me;
my eyes must dwell on their hostility.

³ “Give me, O God, the pledge you demand.
Who else will put up security for me?
⁴ You have closed their minds to understanding;
therefore you will not let them triumph.
⁵ If anyone denounces their friends for reward,
the eyes of their children will fail.

⁶ “God has made me a byword to everyone,
a man in whose face people spit.
⁷ My eyes have grown dim with grief;
my whole frame is but a shadow.
⁸ The upright are appalled at this;
the innocent are aroused against the ungodly.
⁹ Nevertheless, the righteous will hold to their ways,
and those with clean hands will grow stronger.

¹⁰ “But come on, all of you, try again!
I will not find a wise man among you.
¹¹ My days have passed, my plans are shattered.
Yet the desires of my heart
¹² turn night into day;
in the face of the darkness light is near.
¹³ If the only home I hope for is the grave,
if I spread out my bed in the realm of darkness,
¹⁴ if I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’
and to the worm, ‘My mother’ or ‘My sister,’
¹⁵ where then is my hope—
who can see any hope for me?
¹⁶ Will it go down to the gates of death?
Will we descend together into the dust?”