Job 16:1-22
Miserable 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 you if you were in my place; I could heap up words against you and 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.
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 me and 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 mercy and 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 violence and my prayer is pure.
18O earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry for help never be laid to rest.
19Even now my witness is in heaven, and my advocate is on high.
20My friends are my scoffers as my eyes pour out tears to God.
21Oh, that a man might plead with God as he pleads with his neighbor!
22For when only a few years are past I will go the way of no return.
Berean Standard Bible
Job calls his friends miserable comforters. He says he could speak as they do if their souls were in his place, but he would strengthen them with his mouth and offer comfort with his lips. The difference between them is not access to religious language; it is the compassion created by sharing another person's position.
Job says whether he speaks or remains silent, his pain does not leave him. God has shriveled him, seized him, and handed him over to the wicked. He feels torn, struck, and mocked while others sharpen their eyes against him.
Job's face is red with weeping, though there is no violence in his hands and his prayer is pure. He calls on the earth not to cover his blood and asks that his cry find no resting place. He wants the injustice of his suffering to remain visible before God.
He says his witness is in heaven and his advocate is on high, while his eyes pour out tears to God. He wishes someone would mediate between him and God as one might plead for a friend. His final words look toward the short years remaining before he goes where he will not return.
Questions
1 What does Job call his friends?
AnswerHe calls them miserable comforters.
2 How would Job treat them if they were suffering?
AnswerHe says he would strengthen them with his mouth and offer comfort with his lips.
3 What does Job say about his hands?
AnswerHe says there is no violence in his hands and that his prayer is pure.
4 Where does Job say his witness is?
AnswerHe says his witness is in heaven and his advocate is on high.
What This Means for Us
Empathy is more than imagining what advice we would want; it is asking what support the suffering person actually needs. Job's friends keep speaking from a safe distance.
Offer advocacy when someone is being misunderstood. Comfort may mean helping a person be heard before anyone tries to explain the pain.
Prayer
God who sees, hear the cries of people whose suffering has been misunderstood. Make us compassionate friends, truthful advocates, and patient listeners who do not abandon someone because grief is difficult to hear. Amen.