1-5. Then Job defended himself:“I’ve had all I can take of your talk.What a bunch of miserable comforters!Is there no end to your windbag speeches?What’s your problem that you go on and on like this?If you were in my shoes,I could talk just like you.I could put together a terrific harangueand really let you have it.But I’d never do that. I’d console and comfort,make things better, not worse!
15-17. “I sewed myself a shroud and wore it like a shirt;I lay facedown in the dirt.Now my face is blotched red from weeping;look at the dark shadows under my eyes,Even though I’ve never hurt a souland my prayers are sincere!
18-22. “O Earth, don’t cover up the wrong done to me!Don’t muffle my cry!There must be Someone in heaven who knows the truth about me,in highest heaven, some Attorney who can clear my name—My Champion, my Friend,while I’m weeping my eyes out before God.I appeal to the One who represents mortals before Godas a neighbor stands up for a neighbor.“Only a few years are leftbefore I set out on the road of no return.”