Then Job spoke again:
“I have heard all this before. What miserable comforters you are! Won’t you ever stop blowing hot air? What makes you keep on talking? I could say the same things if you were in my place. I could spout out criticisms and shake my head at you. But if it were me, I would encourage you. I would try to take away your grief. Instead, I suffer no less if I refuse to speak.
“O God, you have ground me down and devastated my family. As if to prove I have sinned, you’ve reduced me to skin and bones. My gaunt flesh testifies against me.” (vv. 1-8, NLT)
“O earth, do not conceal my blood. Let cry out on my behalf. Even now my witness is in heaven. My advocate is there on high. My friends scorn me, but I pour out my tears to God. I need someone to mediate between God and me, as a person mediates between friends. For soon I must go down that road from which I will never return.” (vv.18-22, NLT)