1 T hen Job answered,

Then Job answered and said,

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

How long will ye vex my soul, And break me in pieces with words?

3 T en times you have put me to shame and are not ashamed to wrong me.

These ten times have ye reproached me: Ye are not ashamed that ye deal hardly with me.

4 E ven if it is true that I have done wrong, it stays with me.

And be it indeed that I have erred, Mine error remaineth with myself.

5 Y ou put yourselves up high against me, and try to prove my shame to me.

If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, And plead against me my reproach;

6 Y ou will know then that God has wronged me, and has set a trap around me.

Know now that God hath subverted me in my cause, And hath compassed me with his net.

7 “ 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.

Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry for help, but there is no justice.

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

He hath walled up my way that I cannot pass, And hath set darkness in my paths.

9 H e has taken my honor from me, and taken the crown from my head.

He hath 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. He has pulled up my hope like a tree.

He hath broken me down on every side, and I am gone; And my hope hath he plucked up like a tree.

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

He hath also kindled his wrath against me, And he counteth me unto him as one of his adversaries.

12 H is armies come together and build a path against me. They camp around my tent.

His troops come on together, And cast up their way against me, And encamp round about my tent.

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

He hath put my brethren far from me, And mine acquaintance are wholly estranged from me.

14 M y brothers have left me, and my close friends have forgotten me.

My kinsfolk have failed, And my familiar friends have forgotten me.

15 T hose 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.

They that dwell in my house, and my maids, count me for a stranger; I am an alien in their sight.

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

I call unto my servant, and he giveth me no answer, Though I entreat him with my mouth.

17 M y breath smells bad to my wife, and I am hated by my own brothers.

My breath is strange to my wife, And my supplication to the children of mine own mother.

18 E ven young children hate me. When I get up they speak against me.

Even young children despise me; If I arise, they speak against me.

19 A ll my friends hate me. Those I love have turned against me.

All my familiar friends abhor me, And they whom I loved are turned against me.

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

My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, And I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.

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

Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; For the hand of God hath touched me.

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

Why do ye persecute me as God, And are not satisfied with my flesh?

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

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

24 I f only they were cut forever into the rock with an iron cutter and lead!

That with an iron pen and lead They were graven in the rock for ever!

25 B ut 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.

But as for me I know that my Redeemer liveth, And at last he will stand up upon the earth:

26 E ven after my skin is destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.

And after my skin, even this body, is destroyed, Then without my flesh shall I see God;

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

Whom I, even I, shall see, on my side, And mine eyes shall behold, and not as a stranger. My heart is consumed within me.

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

If ye say, How we will persecute him! And that the root of the matter is found in me;

29 y ou 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.”

Be ye afraid of the sword: For wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, That ye may know there is a judgment.