1 Job replied, 2 “How long will you go on tormenting me? How long will you go on crushing me with words? 3 Ten times already you have humiliated me. Aren't you ashamed for treating me so badly? 4 Even if I did sin, that's my problem, and has nothing to do with you. 5 You think you're so much better than me, and you use my degradation against me. 6 But you should realize that it's God who has wronged me,[a] he has trapped me in his net. 7 Even though I cry for help, I get no answer; even though I shout my objections, I get no justice. 8 God has walled me in so I can't escape; he has plunged my path into darkness. 9 He has stripped my honor[b] from me; he has taken away my reputation.[c] 10 He tears me down from all sides until I am finished; he has destroyed my hope like a tree that is uprooted. 11 His anger burns against me; he treats me as one of his enemies. 12 God's troops assemble to attack me. They build ramparts against me. They encircle and besiege my home.

13 He has driven my brothers far away from me; all my former friends are estranged from me. 14 My relatives have abandoned me; my close friends have forgotten me. 15 My house guests and my maidservants treat me as a stranger—to them I have become a foreigner. 16 I call my servant, but he doesn't reply. I have to beg him! 17 I[d] am repulsive to my wife, and I am loathsome to my own brothers.[e] 18 Even young children despise me; when I stand up they ridicule me. 19 All my closest friends despise me, and those I loved have turned on me. 20 I've been reduced to skin and bones and I survive by the skin of my teeth.

21 Have pity on me, my friends, have pity on me, because God has struck me down! 22 Why are you persecuting me like God does? Aren't you satisfied with getting your pound of flesh?

23 I wish my words could be written down, recorded in a book, 24 or engraved with an iron pen and molten lead in the rock forever.

25 I know my Redeemer is alive, and that he shall finally take the stand[f] for me on the earth. 26 Even though my skin is destroyed, in my body[g] I shall see God. 27 I myself will see him—with my own eyes, and not those of someone else! The thought overcomes me![h] 28 You say to yourselves, ‘How can we make him suffer so he can see he is the source of his problems?’ 29 You yourselves should fear being punished by God, for you know anger brings God's punishment[i] that accompanies judgment.”

<- Job 18Job 20 ->