1 T hen Job answered,

¶ And Job replied and said,

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

How long will ye anguish my soul and break me in pieces with words?

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

These ten times ye have reproached me; are ye not ashamed to make yourselves strange to me?

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

And if indeed I have erred, my error shall remain with me.

5 I f indeed you will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach;

If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me and reprove me of my reproach,

6 k now now that God has subverted me, and has surrounded me with his net.

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

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

Behold, 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.

8 H e has walled up my way so that I can’t pass, and has set darkness in my paths.

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

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

He has stripped me of my glory and taken the crown from my head.

10 H e has broken me down on every side, and I am gone. My hope he has plucked up like a tree.

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

11 H e has also kindled his wrath against me. He counts me among his adversaries.

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

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

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

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

He has put my brethren far from me, and my acquaintances are verily estranged from me.

14 M y relatives have gone away. My familiar friends have forgotten me.

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

15 T hose who dwell in my house, and my maids, count me for a stranger. I am an alien in their sight.

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

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

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

17 M y breath is offensive to my wife. I am loathsome to the children of my own mother.

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

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

Even the young children despised me; as I arose, they spoke against me.

19 A ll my familiar friends abhor me. They whom I loved have turned against me.

All my intimate friends abhorred me; and those whom I loved are turned against me.

20 M y bones stick to my skin and to my flesh. I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

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

21 “ Have pity on me, have pity on me, you my friends; for the hand of God has touched me.

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

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

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

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

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

24 T hat with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever!

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

25 B ut as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, he will stand upon the earth.

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

26 A fter my skin is destroyed, then in my flesh shall I see God,

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

27 W hom I, even I, shall see on my side. My eyes shall see, and not as a stranger. “My heart is consumed within me.

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

28 I f you say, ‘How we will persecute him!’ because the root of the matter is found in me,

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

29 b e afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishments of the sword, that you may know there is a judgment.”

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