¹ 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.