Then Job answered and said,

Then Job answered and said,

How long will you torment my soul and crush me with words?

How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?

You have insulted me ten times now; you are not even ashamed that you mistreat me.

These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed that ye make yourselves strange to me.

Even if I have gone astray, my error remains with me.

And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself.

If indeed you are exalting yourselves over me and using my disgrace to argue against me,

If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach:

know then that God has wronged me and surrounded me with His net.

Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net.

Behold, I cry out, 'Violence!' but I am not answered; I call for help, but there is no justice.

Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.

He has blocked my path so I cannot pass; He has shrouded my ways with darkness.

He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths.

He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head.

He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.

He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone; He uproots my hope like a tree.

He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he removed like a tree.

His anger burns against me, and He counts me as one of His enemies.

He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies.

His troops assemble together; they raise a siege against me and encamp around my dwelling.

His troops come together, and raise up their way against me, and encamp round about my tabernacle.

He has driven my brothers far from me, and my acquaintances have turned against me.

He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me.

My relatives have ceased to be close, and my close friends have forgotten me.

My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.

The guests in my house and my maidservants regard me as a stranger; I have become a foreigner in their eyes.

They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight.

I call to my servant, but he does not answer; I must plead with him with my own mouth.

I called my servant, and he gave me no answer; I intreated him with my mouth.

My breath is offensive to my wife, and I am loathsome to my own children.

My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children's sake of mine own body.

Even little children despise me; when I rise, they speak against me.

Yea, young children despised me; I arose, and they spake against me.

All my close friends abhor me, and those I loved have turned against me.

All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me.

My bones cling to my skin and my flesh, and I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.

My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.

Have pity on me, have pity on me, my friends, because the hand of God has struck me.

Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.

Why do you pursue me as God does and are not satisfied with my flesh?

Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?

Oh, that my words were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book!

Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!

That with an iron stylus and lead they were engraved in the rock forever!

That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!

For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will stand upon the earth.

For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:

And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God.

And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:

Whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!

Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.

If you say, 'Why should we persecute him?' since the root of the matter is found in me,

But ye should say, Why persecute we him, seeing the root of the matter is found in me?

be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings punishment by the sword, so that you may know there is a judgment.

Be ye afraid of the sword: for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment.