1. |
Then Job answered and said, |
2. |
How long will ye vex my soul, And break me in pieces with words? |
3. |
These ten times have ye reproached me: Ye are not ashamed that ye deal hardly with me. |
4. |
And be it indeed that I have erred, Mine error remaineth with myself. |
5. |
If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, And plead against me my reproach; |
6. |
Know now that God hath subverted me `in my cause', And hath compassed me with his net. |
7. |
Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry for help, but there is no justice. |
8. |
He hath walled up my way that I cannot pass, And hath set darkness in my paths. |
9. |
He hath stripped me of my glory, And taken the crown from my head. |
10. |
He hath broken me down on every side, and I am gone; And my hope hath he plucked up like a tree. |
11. |
He hath also kindled his wrath against me, And he counteth me unto him as `one of' his adversaries. |
12. |
His troops come on together, And cast up their way against me, And encamp round about my tent. |
13. |
He hath put my brethren far from me, And mine acquaintance are wholly estranged from me. |
14. |
My kinsfolk have failed, And my familiar friends have forgotten me. |
15. |
They that dwell in my house, and my maids, count me for a stranger; I am an alien in their sight. |
16. |
I call unto my servant, and he giveth me no answer, `Though' I entreat him with my mouth. |
17. |
My breath is strange to my wife, And my supplication to the children of mine own mother. |
18. |
Even young children despise me; If I arise, they speak against me. |
19. |
All my familiar friends abhor me, And they whom I loved are turned against me. |
20. |
My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, And I am escaped with the skin of my teeth. |
21. |
Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; For the hand of God hath touched me. |
22. |
Why do ye persecute me as God, And are not satisfied with my flesh? |
23. |
Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! |
24. |
That with an iron pen and lead They were graven in the rock for ever! |
25. |
But as for me I know that my Redeemer liveth, And at last he will stand up upon the earth: |
26. |
And after my skin, `even' this `body', is destroyed, Then without my flesh shall I see God; |
27. |
Whom I, even I, shall see, on my side, And mine eyes shall behold, and not as a stranger. My heart is consumed within me. |
28. |
If ye say, How we will persecute him! And that the root of the matter is found in me; |
29. |
Be ye afraid of the sword: For wrath `bringeth' the punishments of the sword, That ye may know there is a judgment. |