| 1 | Then Job answered and said: |
| 2 | “How long will you torment my soul, And break me in pieces with words? |
| 3 | These ten times you have reproached me; You are not ashamed that you have wronged me. |
| 4 | And if indeed I have erred, My error remains with me. |
| 5 | If indeed you exalt yourselves against me, And plead my disgrace against me, |
| 6 | Know then that God has wronged me, And has surrounded me with His net. |
| 7 | “If I cry out concerning wrong, I am not heard. If I cry aloud, there is no justice. |
| 8 | He has fenced up my way, so that I cannot pass; And He has set darkness in my paths. |
| 9 | He has stripped me of my glory, And taken the crown from my head. |
| 10 | He breaks me down on every side, And I am gone; My hope He has uprooted like a tree. |
| 11 | He has also kindled His wrath against me, And He counts me as one of His enemies. |
| 12 | His troops come together And build up their road against me; They encamp all around my tent. |
| 13 | “He has removed my brothers far from me, And my acquaintances are completely estranged from me. |
| 14 | My relatives have failed, And my close friends have forgotten me. |
| 15 | Those who dwell in my house, and my maidservants, Count me as a stranger; I am an alien in their sight. |
| 16 | I call my servant, but he gives no answer; I beg him with my mouth. |
| 17 | My breath is offensive to my wife, And I am repulsive to the children of my own body. |
| 18 | Even young children despise me; I arise, and they speak against me. |
| 19 | All my close friends abhor me, And those whom I love have turned against me. |
| 20 | My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh, And I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. |
| 21 | “Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends, For the hand of God has struck me! |
| 22 | Why do you persecute me as God does, And are not satisfied with my flesh? |
| 23 | “Oh, that my words were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book! |
| 24 | That they were engraved on a rock With an iron pen and lead, forever! |
| 25 | For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; |
| 26 | And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, |
| 27 | Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! |
| 28 | If you should say, ‘How shall we persecute him?’— Since the root of the matter is found in me, |
| 29 | Be afraid of the sword for yourselves; For wrath brings the punishment of the sword, That you may know there is a judgment.” |
