1Then Job answered,
2“How long will you torment me and crush me with words?
3You have insulted me ten times. You are not ashamed to attack me.
4If it is true that I have made a mistake, my mistake is my own problem.
5If you truly intend to act superior to me and use my disgrace against me,
6then know now that God has overthrown me and trapped me in his net.
7“Look, I cry out about injustice, but no one hears me. I cry for help, but there is no fair judgment.
8He has blocked my way so I cannot pass, and he has put darkness on my paths.
9He has stripped me of my honor and taken the crown from my head.
10He has broken me down on all sides, and I am ruined. He has uprooted my hope like a tree.
11He has also ignited his anger against me. He considers me one of his enemies.
12His troops advance together, build a ramp for attack against me, and set up camp around my tent.
13“He has pushed my brothers far away from me. My acquaintances have completely turned away from me.
14My relatives have left. My close friends have forgotten me.
15Those living in my house and my female servants see me as a stranger. I am a foreigner in their eyes.
16I call to my servant, but he doesn't answer me. I plead with him directly.
17My breath smells bad to my wife. I am disgusting to my own mother's children.
18Even young children look down on me. If I stand up, they speak against me.
19All my close friends hate me. Those I loved have turned against me.
20My bones cling to my skin and flesh. I barely escaped with my life.
21“Have pity on me, have pity on me, my friends; for God has struck me.
22Why do you persecute me like God does? Haven't you had enough of my suffering?
23“Oh, if only my words were written down! Oh, if only they were recorded in a book!
24If only they were engraved in rock forever with an iron tool and lead!
25But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, he will stand on the earth.
26Even after my skin is destroyed, I will still see God in my flesh,
27Whom I, myself, will see. My own eyes will see him, and he won't be a stranger. My heart is consumed with longing inside me.
28If you say, ‘How we will pursue him!’ because you find the cause of the problem in me,
29then be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings punishments by the sword, so you may know there is a judgment.”