Read the Bible

¹ Then Job answered and said: ² "How long will you torment my soul, And break me in pieces with words? ³ These ten times you have reproached me;You are not ashamed that you have wronged me. [fn] ⁴ And if indeed I have erred, My error remains with me. ⁵ If indeed you exalt yourselves against me, And plead my disgrace against me, ⁶ Know then that God has wronged me, And has surrounded me with His net. ⁷ "If I cry out concerning wrong, I am not heard. If I cry aloud, there is no justice.

⁸ He has fenced up my way, so that I cannot pass; And He has set darkness in my paths. ⁹ He has stripped me of my glory, And taken the crown from my head. ¹⁰ He breaks me down on every side, And I am gone; My hope He has uprooted like a tree. ¹¹ He has also kindled His wrath against me, And He counts me as one of His enemies. ¹² His troops come together And build up their road against me; They encamp all around my tent. ¹³ "He has removed my brothers far from me, And my acquaintances are completely estranged from me. ¹⁴ My relatives have failed, And my close friends have forgotten me. ¹⁵ Those who dwell in my house, and my maidservants, Count me as a stranger; I am an alien in their sight. ¹⁶ I call my servant, but he gives no answer; I beg him with my mouth. ¹⁷ My breath is offensive to my wife, And I am repulsive to the children of my own body. ¹⁸ Even young children despise me; I arise, and they speak against me. ¹⁹ All my close friends abhor me, And those whom I love have turned against me. ²⁰ My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh, And I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. ²¹ "Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends, For the hand of God has struck me! ²² Why do you persecute me as God does, And are not satisfied with my flesh?

²³ "Oh, that my words were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book! ²⁴ That they were engraved on a rock With an iron pen and lead, forever! ²⁵ For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; ²⁶ And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, ²⁷ Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! ²⁸ If you should say, "How shall we persecute him?'-- Since the root of the matter is found in me, ²⁹ Be afraid of the sword for yourselves; For wrath brings the punishment of the sword, That you may know there is a judgment."