[1] Then Job answered, [2] "How long will you torment me, And crush me
with words? [3] You have reproached me ten times. You aren`t ashamed
that you attack me. [4] If it is true that I have erred, My error
remains with myself. [5] If indeed you will magnify yourselves against me,
And plead against me my reproach; [6] Know now that God has subverted me,
And has surrounded 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. [8] He has
walled up my way so that I can`t pass, And has set darkness in my paths.
[9] He has stripped me of my glory, And taken the crown from my head.
[10] He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone. My hope he has
plucked up like a tree. [11] He has also kindled his wrath against me.
He counts me among his adversaries. [12] His troops come on together,
Build a siege ramp against me, And encamp around my tent. [13] "He has
put my brothers far from me. My acquaintances are wholly estranged from
me. [14] My relatives have gone away. My familiar friends have forgotten
me. [15] 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, and
he gives me no answer; I beg him with my mouth. [17] My breath is
offensive to my wife. I am loathsome to the children of my own mother.
[18] Even young children despise me. If I arise, they speak against me.
[19] All my familiar friends abhor me. They whom I loved have turned
against me. [20] My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh. I have
escaped by 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. [22] Why do you
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 engraved in the rock forever!
[25] But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, he will
stand upon the earth. [26] After my skin is destroyed, Then in my flesh
shall I see God, [27] 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] If
you say, `How we will persecute him!` Because the root of the matter is
found in me, [29] Be afraid of the sword, For wrath brings the
punishments of the sword, That you may know there is a judgment."
