1 T hen Job answered and said:

And Job answereth and saith: --

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

Till when do ye afflict my soul, And bruise me with words?

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

These ten times ye put me to shame, ye blush not. Ye make yourselves strange to me --

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

And also -- truly, I have erred, With me doth my error remain.

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

If, truly, over me ye magnify yourselves, And decide against me my reproach;

6 K now then that God has wronged me, And has surrounded me with His net.

Know now, that God turned me upside down, And His net against me hath set round,

7 “ If I cry out concerning wrong, I am not heard. If I cry aloud, there is no justice.

Lo, I cry out -- violence, and am not answered, I cry aloud, and there is no judgment.

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

My way He hedged up, and I pass not over, And on my paths darkness He placeth.

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

Mine honour from off me He hath stripped, And He turneth 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.

He breaketh me down round about, and I go, And removeth like a tree my hope.

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

And He kindleth against me His anger, And reckoneth me to Him as His adversaries.

12 H is troops come together And build up their road against me; They encamp all around my tent.

Come in do His troops together, And they raise up against me their way, And encamp round about my tent.

13 “ He has removed my brothers far from me, And my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.

My brethren from me He hath put far off, And mine acquaintances surely Have been estranged from me.

14 M y relatives have failed, And my close friends have forgotten me.

Ceased have my neighbours And my familiar 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.

Sojourners of my house and my maids, For a stranger reckon me: An alien I have been in their eyes.

16 I call my servant, but he gives no answer; I beg him with my mouth.

To my servant I have called, And he doth not answer, With my mouth I make supplication to him.

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

My spirit is strange to my wife, And my favours to the sons of my womb.

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

Also sucklings have despised me, I rise, and they speak against me.

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

Abominate me do all the men of my counsel, And those I have loved, Have been 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.

To my skin and to my flesh Cleaved hath my bone, And I deliver myself with 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!

Pity me, pity me, ye my friends, For the hand of God hath stricken against me.

22 W hy do you persecute me as God does, And are not satisfied with my flesh?

Why do you pursue me as God? And with my flesh are not satisfied?

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

Who doth grant now, That my words may be written? Who doth grant that in a book they may be graven?

24 T hat they were engraved on a rock With an iron pen and lead, forever!

With a pen of iron and lead -- For ever in a rock they may be hewn.

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

That -- I have known my Redeemer, The Living and the Last, For the dust he doth rise.

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

And after my skin hath compassed this, Then from my flesh I see God:

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

Whom I -- I see on my side, And mine eyes have beheld, and not a stranger, Consumed have been my reins in my bosom.

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

But ye say, `Why do we pursue after him?' And the root of the matter hath been 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.”

Be ye afraid because of the sword, For furious the punishments of the sword, That ye may know that a judgment.