[1] Then Job answered and said,
[2] How long will ye vex my soul and break me in pieces with words?
[3] These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed that ye deal hardly with me.
[4] And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself.
[5] If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach:
[6] Know now that God hath subverted me in my cause, and hath 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 judgment.
[8] He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and hath set darkness in my paths.
[9] He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.
[10] He hath broken me down on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he plucked up like a tree.
[11] He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto him as one of his adversaries.
[12] His troops come on together, and cast up their way against me, and encamp round about my tent.
[13] He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are wholly estranged from me.
[14] My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.
[15] They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight.
[16] I call unto my servant, and he giveth me no answer, though I entreat him with my mouth.
[17] My breath is strange to my wife, and my supplication to the children of my mother’s womb.
[18] Even young children despise me; if I arise, they speak against me.
[19] All my inward friends abhor me: and they whom I loved are turned against me.
[20] My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.
[21] Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.
[22] 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!
[24] That with an iron pen and lead they were graven in the rock for ever!
[25] But I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand up at the last upon the earth:
[26] And after my skin hath been thus destroyed, yet from my flesh shall I see God:
[27] Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another. My reins are consumed within me.
[28] If ye say, How we will persecute him! seeing that the root of the matter is found in me;
[29] Be ye afraid of the sword: for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment.