[1] Job's Reply to Bildad Job said: [2] How long will you torture me with your words? [3] Isn't ten times enough for you to accuse me? Aren't you ashamed? [4] Even if I have sinned, you haven't been harmed. [5] You boast of your goodness, claiming I am suffering because I am guilty. [6] But God is the one at fault for finding fault with me. [7] Though I pray to be rescued from this torment, no whisper of justice answers me. [8] God has me trapped with a wall of darkness [9] and stripped of respect. [10] God rips me apart, uproots my hopes, [11] and attacks with fierce anger, as though I were his enemy. [12] His entire army advances, then surrounds my tent. [13] God has turned relatives and friends against me, [14] and I am forgotten. [15] My guests and my servants consider me a stranger, [16] and when I call my servants, they pay no attention. [17] My breath disgusts my wife; everyone in my family turns away. [18] Young children can't stand me, and when I come near, they make fun. [19] My best friends and loved ones have turned from me. [20] I am skin and bones- just barely alive. [21] My friends, I beg you for pity! God has made me his target. [22] Hasn't he already done enough? Why do you join the attack? [23] I wish that my words could be written down [24] or chiseled into rock. [25] I know that my Savior lives, and at the end he will stand on this earth. [26] My flesh may be destroyed, yet from this body I will see God. [27] Yes, I will see him for myself, and I long for that moment. [28] My friends, you think up ways to blame and torment me, saying I brought it on myself. [29] But watch out for the judgment, when God will punish you!
