Job

19 Then Job replied:

2 “How long will you tormento me

and crushp me with words?

3 Ten timesq now you have reproachedr me;

shamelessly you attack me.

4 If it is true that I have gone astray,

my errors remains my concern alone.

5 If indeed you would exalt yourselves above met

and use my humiliation against me,

6 then know that God has wronged meu

and drawn his netv around me.w

7 “Though I cry, ‘Violence!’ I get no response;x

though I call for help,y there is no justice.z

8 He has blocked my way so I cannot pass;a

he has shrouded my paths in darkness.b

9 He has strippedc me of my honord

and removed the crown from my head.e

10 He tears me downf on every side till I am gone;

he uproots my hopeg like a tree.h

11 His angeri burns against me;

he counts me among his enemies.j

12 His troops advance in force;k

they build a siege rampl against me

and encamp around my tent.m

13 “He has alienated my familyn from me;

my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.o

14 My relatives have gone away;

my closest friendsp have forgotten me.

15 My guestsq and my female servantsr count me a foreigner;

they look on me as on a stranger.

16 I summon my servant, but he does not answer,

though I beg him with my own mouth.

17 My breath is offensive to my wife;

I am loathsomes to my own family.

18 Even the little boyst scorn me;

when I appear, they ridicule me.u

19 All my intimate friendsv detest me;w

those I love have turned against me.x

20 I am nothing but skin and bones;y

I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.a

21 “Have pity on me, my friends,z have pity,

for the hand of God has strucka me.

22 Why do you pursueb me as God does?c

Will you never get enough of my flesh?d

23 “Oh, that my words were recorded,

that they were written on a scroll,e

24 that they were inscribed with an iron toolf onb lead,

or engraved in rock forever!g

25 I know that my redeemerc h lives,i

and that in the end he will stand on the earth.d

26 And after my skin has been destroyed,

yete inf my flesh I will see God;j

27 I myself will see him

with my own eyesk—I, and not another.

How my heart yearnsl within me!

28 “If you say, ‘How we will houndm him,

since the root of the trouble lies in him,g’

29 you should fear the sword yourselves;

for wrath will bring punishment by the sword,n

and then you will know that there is judgment.h”o