¹ And Job made answer and said,

^{2 Ref} How long will you make my life bitter, crushing me with words?

^{3 Ref} Ten times now you have made sport of me; it gives you no sense of shame to do me wrong.

^{4 Ref} And, truly, if I have been in error, the effect of my error is only on myself.

^{5 Ref} If you make yourselves great against me, using my punishment as an argument against me,

^{6 Ref} Be certain that it is God who has done me wrong, and has taken me in his net.

^{7 Ref} Truly, I make an outcry against the violent man, but there is no answer: I give a cry for help, but no one takes up my cause.

^{8 Ref} My way is walled up by him so that I may not go by: he has made my roads dark.

^{9 Ref} He has put off my glory from me, and taken the crown from my head.

^{10 Ref} I am broken down by him on every side, and I am gone; my hope is uprooted like a tree.

^{11 Ref} His wrath is burning against me, and I am to him as one of his haters.

^{12 Ref} His armies come on together, they make their road high against me, and put up their tents round mine.

^{13 Ref} He has taken my brothers far away from me; they have seen my fate and have become strange to me.

^{14 Ref} My relations and my near friends have given me up, and those living in my house have put me out of their minds.

^{15 Ref} I am strange to my women-servants, and seem to them as one from another country.

^{16 Ref} At my cry my servant gives me no answer, and I have to make a prayer to him.

^{17 Ref} My breath is strange to my wife, and I am disgusting to the offspring of my mother's body.

^{18 Ref} Even young children have no respect for me; when I get up their backs are turned on me.

^{19 Ref} All the men of my circle keep away from me; and those dear to me are turned against me.

^{20 Ref} My bones are joined to my skin, and I have got away with my flesh in my teeth.

^{21 Ref} Have pity on me, have pity on me, O my friends! for the hand of God is on me.

^{22 Ref} Why are you cruel to me, like God, for ever saying evil against me?

^{23 Ref} If only my words might be recorded! if they might be put in writing in a book!

^{24 Ref} And with an iron pen and lead be cut into the rock for ever!

^{25 Ref} But I am certain that he who will take up my cause is living, and that in time to come he will take his place on the dust;

^{26 Ref} And ... without my flesh I will see God;

^{27 Ref} Whom I will see on my side, and not as one strange to me. My heart is broken with desire.

^{28 Ref} If you say, How cruel we will be to him! because the root of sin is clearly in him:

^{29 Ref} Be in fear of the sword, for the sword is the punishment for such things, so that you may be certain that there is a judge.

¹ And Job answereth and saith: --

^{2 Ref} Till when do ye afflict my soul, And bruise me with words?

^{3 Ref} These ten times ye put me to shame, ye blush not. Ye make yourselves strange to me --

^{4 Ref} And also -- truly, I have erred, With me doth my error remain.

^{5 Ref} If, truly, over me ye magnify yourselves, And decide against me my reproach;

^{6 Ref} Know now, that God turned me upside down, And His net against me hath set round,

^{7 Ref} Lo, I cry out -- violence, and am not answered, I cry aloud, and there is no judgment.

^{8 Ref} My way He hedged up, and I pass not over, And on my paths darkness He placeth.

^{9 Ref} Mine honour from off me He hath stripped, And He turneth the crown from my head.

^{10 Ref} He breaketh me down round about, and I go, And removeth like a tree my hope.

^{11 Ref} And He kindleth against me His anger, And reckoneth me to Him as His adversaries.

^{12 Ref} Come in do His troops together, And they raise up against me their way, And encamp round about my tent.

^{13 Ref} My brethren from me He hath put far off, And mine acquaintances surely Have been estranged from me.

^{14 Ref} Ceased have my neighbours And my familiar friends have forgotten me,

^{15 Ref} Sojourners of my house and my maids, For a stranger reckon me: An alien I have been in their eyes.

^{16 Ref} To my servant I have called, And he doth not answer, With my mouth I make supplication to him.

^{17 Ref} My spirit is strange to my wife, And my favours to the sons of my `mother's' womb.

^{18 Ref} Also sucklings have despised me, I rise, and they speak against me.

^{19 Ref} Abominate me do all the men of my counsel, And those I have loved, Have been turned against me.

^{20 Ref} To my skin and to my flesh Cleaved hath my bone, And I deliver myself with the skin of my teeth.

^{21 Ref} Pity me, pity me, ye my friends, For the hand of God hath stricken against me.

^{22 Ref} Why do you pursue me as God? And with my flesh are not satisfied?

^{23 Ref} Who doth grant now, That my words may be written? Who doth grant that in a book they may be graven?

^{24 Ref} With a pen of iron and lead -- For ever in a rock they may be hewn.

^{25 Ref} That -- I have known my Redeemer, The Living and the Last, For the dust he doth rise.

^{26 Ref} And after my skin hath compassed this `body', Then from my flesh I see God:

^{27 Ref} Whom I -- I see on my side, And mine eyes have beheld, and not a stranger, Consumed have been my reins in my bosom.

^{28 Ref} But ye say, `Why do we pursue after him?' And the root of the matter hath been found in me.

^{29 Ref} Be ye afraid because of the sword, For furious `are' the punishments of the sword, That ye may know that `there is' a judgment.

¹ Then Job answered,

^{2 Ref} "How long will you torment me, And crush me with words?

^{3 Ref} You have reproached me ten times. You aren't ashamed that you attack me.

^{4 Ref} If it is true that I have erred, My error remains with myself.

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

^{6 Ref} Know now that God has subverted me, And has surrounded 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 has walled up my way so that I can't pass, And has set darkness in my paths.

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

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

^{11 Ref} He has also kindled his wrath against me. He counts me among his adversaries.

^{12 Ref} His troops come on together, Build a siege ramp against me, And encamp around my tent.

^{13 Ref} "He has put my brothers far from me. My acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.

^{14 Ref} My relatives have gone away. My familiar friends have forgotten me.

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

^{16 Ref} I call to my servant, and he gives me no answer; I beg him with my mouth.

^{17 Ref} My breath is offensive to my wife. I am loathsome to the children of my own mother.

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

^{19 Ref} All my familiar friends abhor me. They whom I loved have turned against me.

^{20 Ref} My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh. I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

^{21 Ref} "Have pity on me, have pity on me, you my friends; For the hand of God has touched me.

^{22 Ref} Why do you 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 engraved in the rock forever!

^{25 Ref} But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, he will stand upon the earth.

^{26 Ref} After my skin is destroyed, Then in my flesh shall I see God,

^{27 Ref} 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 Ref} If you say, 'How we will persecute him!' Because the root of the matter is found in me,

^{29 Ref} Be afraid of the sword, For wrath brings the punishments of the sword, That you may know there is a judgment."