1 T hen Job answered,

Then Job answered,

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

“How long will you torment me, and crush me with words?

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

You have reproached me ten times. You aren’t ashamed that you attack me.

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

If it is true that I have erred, my error remains with myself.

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

If indeed you 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 has subverted me, and has surrounded 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 has walled up my way so that I can’t pass, and has set darkness in my paths.

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

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

He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone. My hope he has 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 has also kindled his wrath against me. He counts me among his adversaries.

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

His troops come on together, build a siege ramp against me, and encamp around my tent.

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

“He has put my brothers far from me. My acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.

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

My relatives have gone away. 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.

Those who 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 to my servant, and he gives me no answer. I beg him with my mouth.

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

My breath is offensive to my wife. I am loathsome to the children of my 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. They whom I loved have turned against me.

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

My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh. I have escaped by 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 on me, have pity on me, you my friends; for the hand of God has 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 you 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 engraved in the rock forever!

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 lives. In the end, he will stand upon the earth.

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

After my skin is destroyed, then in 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. My eyes shall see, 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 you say, ‘How we will persecute him!’ because 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 afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishments of the sword, that you may know there is a judgment.”