¹Then Job answered: ²“How long will you torment me ³Ten times now you have reproached me; ⁴Even if I have truly gone astray, ⁵If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me ⁶then understand that it is God who has wronged me ⁷Though I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I get no response; ⁸He has blocked my way so I cannot pass; ⁹He has stripped me of my honor ¹⁰He tears me down on every side until I am gone; ¹¹His anger burns against me, ¹²His troops advance together; ¹³He has removed my brothers from me; ¹⁴My kinsmen have failed me, ¹⁵My guests and maidservants count me as a stranger; ¹⁶I call for my servant, but he does not answer, ¹⁷My breath is repulsive to my wife, ¹⁸Even little boys scorn me; ¹⁹All my best friends despise me, ²⁰My skin and flesh cling to my bones; ²¹Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, ²²Why do you persecute me as God does? ²³I wish that my words were recorded ²⁴by an iron stylus on lead, ²⁵But I know that my Redeemer lives, ²⁶Even after my skin has been destroyed, ²⁷I will see Him for myself; ²⁸If you say, ‘Let us persecute him, ²⁹then you should fear the sword yourselves,