1 T hen Job responded,

2 “ How long will you torment me And crush me with words?

3 “ These ten times you have insulted me; You are not ashamed to wrong me.

4 “ Even if I have truly erred, My error lodges with me.

5 “ If indeed you vaunt yourselves against me And prove my disgrace to me,

6 K now then that God has wronged me And has closed His net around me. Everything Is against Him

7 “ Behold, I cry, ‘Violence!’ but I get no answer; I shout for help, but there is no justice.

8 “ He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass, And He has put darkness on my paths.

9 “ He has stripped my honor from me And removed the crown from my head.

10 “ He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone; And He has uprooted my hope like a tree.

11 “ He has also kindled His anger against me And considered me as His enemy.

12 “ His troops come together, And build up their way against me And camp 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 intimate friends have forgotten me.

15 “ Those who live in my house and my maids consider me a stranger. I am a foreigner in their sight.

16 “ I call to my servant, but he does not answer; I have to implore him with my mouth.

17 “ My breath is offensive to my wife, And I am loathsome to my own brothers.

18 “ Even young children despise me; I rise up and they speak against me.

19 “ All my associates abhor me, And those I love have turned against me.

20 “ My bone clings to my skin and my flesh, And I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.

21 “ Pity me, pity 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? Job Says, “My Redeemer Lives”

23 “ Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book!

24 “ That with an iron stylus and lead They were engraved in the rock forever!

25 “ As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last He will take His stand on the earth.

26 “ Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall see God;

27 W hom I myself shall behold, And whom my eyes will see and not another. My heart faints within me!

28 “ If you say, ‘How shall we persecute him?’ And ‘ What pretext for a case against him can we find?’

29 “ Then be afraid of the sword for yourselves, For wrath brings the punishment of the sword, So that you may know there is judgment.”