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Then Job answered and said:
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"I have heard many such things; Miserable comforters are you all!
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Shall words of wind have an end? Or what provokes you that you answer?
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I also could speak as you do, If your soul were in my soul's place. I could heap up words against you, And shake my head at you;
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But I would strengthen you with my mouth, And the comfort of my lips would relieve your grief.
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"Though I speak, my grief is not relieved; And if I remain silent, how am I eased?
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But now He has worn me out; You have made desolate all my company.
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You have shriveled me up, And it is a witness against me; My leanness rises up against me And bears witness to my face.
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He tears me in His wrath, and hates me; He gnashes at me with His teeth; My adversary sharpens His gaze on me.
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They gape at me with their mouth, They strike me reproachfully on the cheek, They gather together against me.
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God has delivered me to the ungodly, And turned me over to the hands of the wicked.
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I was at ease, but He has shattered me; He also has taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces; He has set me up for His target,
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His archers surround me. He pierces my heart and does not pity; He pours out my gall on the ground.
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He breaks me with wound upon wound; He runs at me like a warrior.
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"I have sewn sackcloth over my skin, And laid my head in the dust.
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My face is flushed from weeping, And on my eyelids is the shadow of death;
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Although no violence is in my hands, And my prayer is pure.
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"O earth, do not cover my blood, And let my cry have no resting place!
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Surely even now my witness is in heaven, And my evidence is on high.