1 ¶ Then Job answered and said,

2 How long will you vex my soul, and crush me with words?

3 You have reproached me ten times now: and you are not ashamed that you alienate yourselves from me.

4 And if it were true that I have done wrong, I would be conscious of my wrong doing.

5 If you look down on me, and would use my disgrace as evidence against me:

6 Then understand that God has overthrown me, and has caught me in his net.

7 Behold, I cry out that I am wronged, but get no answer: I cry aloud for help, but there is no justice.

8 ¶ He has fenced up my way so that I cannot pass, and he has covered my paths with darkness.

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

10 He has broken me down on every side, so I am ruined: and has uprooted my hope like a tree.

11 His anger burns against me, and he counts me as one of his enemies.

12 His troops come together, and raise up ramparts against me, and encamp around my dwelling place.

13 He has removed my brothers from me, and my acquaintances have abandoned me.

14 My relatives have stopped coming, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.

15 Those who live in my house, and my maids, regard me as a stranger: I am an alien in their sight.

16 I called my servant, and he did not answer me; I have to beg him humbly.

17 My breath is offensive to my wife, and I am loathsome to the children of my own mother.

18 Yea, young children despise me; when I stand up, they mock me.

19 All my intimate friends look down on me: and those whom I loved have turned against me.

20 My skin and flesh clings to my bone, and I have escaped with the skin of my teeth.

21 Have pity on me, have pity on me, O my friends; for the hand of God has struck me.

22 Why do you pursue me as God, and never tire of slandering me?

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

24 That they were engraved on rock forever with an iron pen and lead!

25 For I know that my redeemer lives, and that he will stand at a future time upon the earth:

26 And after the skin worms have destroyed this body, yet in my flesh I will see God:

27 Whom I will see for myself, my eyes will see him, not the eyes of someone else; though my reins are consumed within me.

28 If you say, How will we pursue him, for the root of the trouble is found in him?

29 Beware of the sword: for wrath brings punishments by the sword, so that you may know that there is a judgment.