[1] Then Job answered and said:
[2] “How long will you torment my soul, And break me in pieces with words?
[3] These ten times you have reproached me; You are not ashamed that you have wronged me.
[4] And if indeed I have erred, My error remains with me.
[5] If indeed you exalt yourselves against me, And plead my disgrace against me,
[6] Know then that God has wronged me, And has surrounded me with His net.
[7] “If I cry out concerning wrong, I am not heard. If I cry aloud, there is no justice.
[8] He has fenced up my way, so that I cannot pass; And He has set darkness in my paths.
[9] He has stripped me of my glory, And taken the crown from my head.
[10] He breaks me down on every side, And I am gone; My hope He has uprooted like a tree.
[11] He has also kindled His wrath against me, And He counts me as one of His enemies.
[12] His troops come together And build up their road against me; They encamp all 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 close friends have forgotten me.
[15] Those who dwell in my house, and my maidservants, Count me as a stranger; I am an alien in their sight.
[16] I call my servant, but he gives no answer; I beg him with my mouth.
[17] My breath is offensive to my wife, And I am repulsive to the children of my own body.
[18] Even young children despise me; I arise, and they speak against me.
[19] All my close friends abhor me, And those whom I love have turned against me.
[20] My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh, And I have escaped by 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!
[22] Why do you persecute me as God does, And are not satisfied with my flesh?
[23] “Oh, that my words were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book!
[24] That they were engraved on a rock With an iron pen and lead, forever!
[25] For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth;
[26] And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God,
[27] Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!
[28] If you should say, ‘How shall we persecute him?’— Since the root of the matter is found in me,
[29] Be afraid of the sword for yourselves; For wrath brings the punishment of the sword, That you may know there is a judgment.”