[1] Then Job answered: [2] "How long will you hurt me and crush me with your words? [3] You have insulted me ten times now and attacked me without shame. [4] Even if I have sinned, it is my worry alone. [5] If you want to make yourselves look better than I, you can blame me for my suffering. [6] Then know that God has wronged me and pulled his net around me. [7] "I shout, 'I have been wronged!' But I get no answer. I scream for help but I get no justice. [8] God has blocked my way so I cannot pass; he has covered my paths with darkness. [9] He has taken away my honor and removed the crown from my head. [10] He beats me down on every side until I am gone; he destroys my hope like a fallen tree. [11] His anger burns against me, and he treats me like an enemy. [12] His armies gather; they prepare to attack me. They camp around my tent. [13] "God has made my brothers my enemies, and my friends have become strangers. [14] My relatives have gone away, and my friends have forgotten me. [15] My guests and my female servants treat me like a stranger; they look at me as if I were a foreigner. [16] I call for my servant, but he does not answer, even when I beg him with my own mouth. [17] My wife can't stand my breath, and my own family dislikes me. [18] Even the little boys hate me and talk about me when I leave. [19] All my close friends hate me; even those I love have turned against me. [20] I am nothing but skin and bones; I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. [21] Pity me, my friends, pity me, because the hand of God has hit me. [22] Why do you chase me as God does? Haven't you hurt me enough? [23] "How I wish my words were written down, written on a scroll. [24] I wish they were carved with an iron pen into lead, or carved into stone forever. [25] I know that my Defender lives, and in the end he will stand upon the earth. [26] Even after my skin has been destroyed, in my flesh I will see God. [27] I will see him myself; I will see him with my very own eyes. How my heart wants that to happen! [28] "If you say, 'We will continue to trouble Job, because the problem lies with him,' [29] you should be afraid of the sword yourselves. God's anger will bring punishment by the sword. Then you will know there is judgment."
