Job 16 - Introduction

TODAY'S ENGLISH VERSION

2 I have heard words like that before;

the comfort you give is only torment.

3 Are you going to keep on talking forever?

Do you always have to have the last word?

4 If you were in my place and I in yours,

I could say everything you are saying.

I could shake my head wisely

and drown you with a flood of words.

5 I could strengthen you with advice

and keep talking to comfort you.

6 But nothing I say helps,

and being silent does not calm my pain.

7 You have worn me out, God;

you have let my family be killed.

8 You have seized me. You are my enemy.
I am skin and bones,

and people take that as proof of my guilt.

9 In anger, God tears me limb from limb;

he glares at me with hate.

10 People sneer at me;

they crowd around me and slap my face.

11 God has turned me over to evil men.
12 I was living in peace,

but God took me by the throat

and battered me and crushed me.

God uses me for target practice

13 and shoots arrows at me from every side

arrows that pierce and wound me;
and even then he shows no pity.

14 He wounds me again and again;

he attacks like a soldier gone mad with hate.

15 1 mourn and wear clothes made of sackcloth,

and I sit here in the dust defeated.

16 1 have cried until my face is red,

and my eyes are swollen and circled with shadows,

17 but I have not committed any violence,

and my prayer to God is sincere.

18 Earth, don-'t hide the wrongs done to me!

Don-'t let my call for justice be silenced!

19 There is someone in heaven

to stand up for me and take my side.

20 I want God to see my tears and hear my prayer.
21 I want someone to plead with God for me,

as a man pleads for his friend.

22 My years are passing now,

and I walk the road of no return.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 16:1-22

316.

Job has four enemies. Who are they? Why call them enemies?

317.

What is the meaning of my witness in heaven? Cf. Job 16:19.

318.

Job says, I have heard it all before. When does repetition have meaning?

319.

Job says of his friends that they are miserable, windy enemies. Why don-'t they leave?

320.

The pronouns in verse four are in the plural form. What does this mean?

321.

Job reveals the selfishness and pride of man in verse four. Explain.

322.

Explain the scornful sarcasm of verse five.

323.

Are there persons in hospitals near us who feel as Job?i.e., if I speak or am silent yet am I miserable. How can we help them?

324.

What is the meaning of verse seven?

325.

Job's calamity is a witness against him. How so? Do we believe this principle today? Discuss.

326.

Job pictures God as a ferocious animal. How does he expect God to react to all this?

327.

There is no expressed subject in verse ten, but Job strongly infers the subject. Who are they? How are they described?

328.

The Hebrew word for ungodly in Job 16:11 has an interesting meaning. What is it? Why used?

329.

God is attacking Job. How? Through whom?

330.

There is a very graphic mixing of the metaphors in Job 16:13. Explain figures used.

331.

Job imagines his body to be like a fortress. What happens to him? Are giants involved? Cf. Job 16:14.

332.

Isn-'t it extreme to suggest that sackcloth was actually sewn upon the skin? What is meant by reference to the horn? Cf. Job 16:15.

333.

We might catch a hint as to the type of sickness from Job 16:16. What is it? The shadow of death is not accurate. Why?

334.

Job rejects the possibility of his guilt. He teaches us something in this. What?

335.

Why does Job request that his blood be not covered?

336.

Who is Job's witness as in Job 16:19? Isn-'t this a contradiction of previous descriptions? Discuss.

337.

There is much comfort for many of us in Job 16:20. We know more than Job. Discuss.

338.

Job 16:21 is one of the most profound verses in all the scriptures. Discuss its meaning.

339.

To Job death was inevitable and final. What is it to us? Discuss.