1But Job answered and said:

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

3These ten times have ye reviled me; Without shame do ye stun me!

4And be it, indeed, that I have erred, My error abideth with myself.

5Since, indeed, ye magnify yourselves against me, And plead against me my reproach,

6Know then that it is God who hath brought me low; He hath encompassed me with his net.

7Behold, I complain of wrong, but receive no answer; I cry aloud, but obtain no justice.

8He hath fenced up my way, so that I cannot pass, And hath set darkness in my paths.

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

10He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone! He hath torn up my hope like a tree.

11He kindleth his anger against me, And counteth me as his enemy.

12His troops advance together against me; They throw up for themselves a way to me, And encamp around my dwelling.

13My brethren he hath put far from me, And my acquaintance are wholly estranged from me.

14My kinsfolk have forsaken me, And my bosom friends have forgotten me.

15The foreigners of my house, yea, my own maid-servants, regard me as a stranger; I am an alien in their eyes.

16I call my servant, and he maketh no answer; With my own mouth do I entreat him.

17My breath is become strange to my wife, And my prayers also to my own mother's sons.

18Even young children despise me; When I rise up, they speak against me.

19All my bosom friends abhor me, And they whom I loved are turned against me.

20My bones cleave to my flesh and my skin, And I have scarcely escaped with the skin of my teeth.

21Have pity upon me, O ye my friends! have pity upon me; For the hand of God hath smitten me!

22Why do ye persecute me like God, And are not satisfied with my flesh?

23O that my words were now written! O that they were marked down in a scroll!

24That with an iron pen, and with lead, They were engraven upon the rock for ever!

25Yet I know that my Vindicator liveth, And will hereafter stand up on the earth;

26And though with my skin this body be wasted away, Yet without my flesh shall I see God.

27Yea, I shall see him my friend; My eyes shall behold him, and not another: For this, my soul panteth within me.

28Since ye say, “How may we persecute him, And find grounds of accusation against him?”

29Be ye afraid of the sword! For malice is a crime for the sword; That ye may know that judgment cometh.