¹ Then Job answered and said,

^{2 Ref} How long will ye vex my soul, And break me in pieces with words?

^{3 Ref} These ten times have ye reproached me: Ye are not ashamed that ye deal hardly with me.

^{4 Ref} And be it indeed that I have erred, Mine error remaineth with myself.

^{5 Ref} If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, And plead against me my reproach;

^{6 Ref} Know now that God hath subverted me `in my cause', And hath compassed me with his net.

^{7 Ref} Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry for help, but there is no justice.

^{8 Ref} He hath walled up my way that I cannot pass, And hath set darkness in my paths.

^{9 Ref} He hath stripped me of my glory, And taken the crown from my head.

^{10 Ref} He hath broken me down on every side, and I am gone; And my hope hath he plucked up like a tree.

^{11 Ref} He hath also kindled his wrath against me, And he counteth me unto him as `one of' his adversaries.

^{12 Ref} His troops come on together, And cast up their way against me, And encamp round about my tent.

^{13 Ref} He hath put my brethren far from me, And mine acquaintance are wholly estranged from me.

^{14 Ref} My kinsfolk have failed, And my familiar friends have forgotten me.

^{15 Ref} They that dwell in my house, and my maids, count me for a stranger; I am an alien in their sight.

^{16 Ref} I call unto my servant, and he giveth me no answer, `Though' I entreat him with my mouth.

^{17 Ref} My breath is strange to my wife, And my supplication to the children of mine own mother.

^{18 Ref} Even young children despise me; If I arise, they speak against me.

^{19 Ref} All my familiar friends abhor me, And they whom I loved are turned against me.

^{20 Ref} My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, And I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.

^{21 Ref} Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; For the hand of God hath touched me.

^{22 Ref} Why do ye persecute me as God, And are not satisfied with my flesh?

^{23 Ref} Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book!

^{24 Ref} That with an iron pen and lead They were graven in the rock for ever!

^{25 Ref} But as for me I know that my Redeemer liveth, And at last he will stand up upon the earth:

^{26 Ref} And after my skin, `even' this `body', is destroyed, Then without my flesh shall I see God;

^{27 Ref} Whom I, even I, shall see, on my side, And mine eyes shall behold, and not as a stranger. My heart is consumed within me.

^{28 Ref} If ye say, How we will persecute him! And that the root of the matter is found in me;

^{29 Ref} Be ye afraid of the sword: For wrath `bringeth' the punishments of the sword, That ye may know there is a judgment.