1 T hen Job answered and said:

2 “ How long will you torment my soul, And break me in pieces with words?

3 T hese ten times you have reproached me; You are not ashamed that you have wronged me.

4 A nd if indeed I have erred, My error remains with me.

5 I f indeed you exalt yourselves against me, And plead my disgrace against me,

6 K now 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 H e has fenced up my way, so that I cannot pass; And He has set darkness in my paths.

9 H e has stripped me of my glory, And taken the crown from my head.

10 H e breaks me down on every side, And I am gone; My hope He has uprooted like a tree.

11 H e has also kindled His wrath against me, And He counts me as one of His enemies.

12 H is 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 M y relatives have failed, And my close friends have forgotten me.

15 T hose 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 M y breath is offensive to my wife, And I am repulsive to the children of my own body.

18 E ven young children despise me; I arise, and they speak against me.

19 A ll my close friends abhor me, And those whom I love have turned against me.

20 M y 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 W hy 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 T hat they were engraved on a rock With an iron pen and lead, forever!

25 F or I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth;

26 A nd after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God,

27 W hom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

28 I f you should say, ‘How shall we persecute him?’— Since the root of the matter is found in me,

29 B e afraid of the sword for yourselves; For wrath brings the punishment of the sword, That you may know there is a judgment.”