1 ¶ And Job replied and said,

Then Job answered,

2 H ow long will ye anguish my soul and break me in pieces with words?

“How long will you make me suffer and crush me with words?

3 T hese ten times ye have reproached me; are ye not ashamed to make yourselves strange to me?

Ten times you have put me to shame and are not ashamed to wrong me.

4 A nd if indeed I have erred, my error shall remain with me.

Even if it is true that I have done wrong, it stays with me.

5 I f indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me and reprove me of my reproach,

You put yourselves up high against me, and try to prove my shame to me.

6 k now now that God has overthrown me and has compassed me with his net.

You will know then that God has wronged me, and has set a trap around me.

7 B ehold, I shall cry out that I have been wronged, and I shall not be heard; I shall cry aloud, and there shall be no judgment.

“See, I cry, ‘Someone is hurting me!’ but I get no answer. I call for help, but no one stands for what is right and fair.

8 ¶ He has walled off my way and I shall not pass, and he has set darkness in my paths.

He has built a wall in my way so that I cannot pass. And He has put darkness on my paths.

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

He has taken my honor from me, and taken the crown from my head.

10 H e has pulled me up on every side, and I am dried up; he has caused my hope to pass like an uprooted tree.

He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone. He has pulled up my hope like a tree.

11 H e has kindled his wrath against me, and he counted me unto him as one of his enemies.

He has made His anger burn against me, and thinks of me as one who fights against Him.

12 H is troops came together and raised up their way over me and encamp round about my tent.

His armies come together and build a path against me. They camp around my tent.

13 H e has put my brethren far from me, and my acquaintances are verily estranged from me.

“He has taken my brothers far away from me and my friends have all left me.

14 M y kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.

My brothers have left me, and my close friends have forgotten me.

15 T hose that dwell in my house and my maids have counted me for a stranger; I was an alien in their sight.

Those who live in my house and my women servants think of me as a stranger. I am like one from another country in their eyes.

16 I called my slave, and he gave me no answer; I intreated him with my mouth.

I call to my servant, but he does not answer. I have to beg him.

17 M y spirit came to be strange to my wife, although I intreated her for the sons of my own body.

My breath smells bad to my wife, and I am hated by my own brothers.

18 E ven the young children despised me; as I arose, they spoke against me.

Even young children hate me. When I get up they speak against me.

19 A ll my intimate friends abhorred me; and those whom I loved are turned against me.

All my friends hate me. Those I love have turned against me.

20 M y bones cleave to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.

I am only skin and flesh. And I have gotten away only by the skin of my teeth.

21 H ave pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God has touched me.

Have pity on me. Have pity on me, O you my friends. For the hand of God has hit me.

22 W hy do ye persecute me as God and are not satisfied with my flesh?

Why do you make it hard for me as God does? Have I not suffered enough to please you?

23 ¶ Oh, that my words were now written! Oh, that they were printed in a book!

“If only my words were written! If only they were written down in a book!

24 T hat they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!

If only they were cut forever into the rock with an iron cutter and lead!

25 F or I know that my redeemer lives and that he shall rise at the latter day over the dust;

But as for me, I know that the One Who bought me and made me free from sin lives, and that He will stand upon the earth in the end.

26 a nd afterward from this, my stricken skin and from my own flesh, I must see God:

Even after my skin is destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.

27 w hom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another, though my kidneys be consumed within me.

I myself will see Him. With my own eyes I will see Him and not another. My heart becomes weak within me.

28 B ut ye should say, Why should we persecute him, seeing that the root of the matter is found in me?

If you say, ‘How will we make it hard for him?’ and, ‘The root of the problem is in him,’

29 B e ye afraid of the sword; for the wrath of the sword comes because of the iniquities, that ye may know there is a judgment.

you should be afraid of the sword for yourselves. For anger is punished by the sword, that you may know there is punishment for wrong-doing.”