Study Desk

Job

Then Job replied:

"How long will you torment^(a) me and crush^(b) me with words?

Ten times^(c) now you have reproached^(d) me; shamelessly you attack me.

If it is true that I have gone astray, my error^(e) remains my concern alone.

If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me^(f) and use my humiliation against me,

then know that God has wronged me^(g) and drawn his net^(h) around me.⁽ⁱ⁾

"Though I cry, ‘Violence!' I get no response;^(j) though I call for help,^(k) there is no justice.^(l)

He has blocked my way so I cannot pass;^(m) he has shrouded my paths in darkness.⁽ⁿ⁾

He has stripped^(o) me of my honor^(p) and removed the crown from my head.^(q)

He tears me down^(r) on every side till I am gone; he uproots my hope^(s) like a tree.^(t)

His anger^(u) burns against me; he counts me among his enemies.^(v)

His troops advance in force;^(w) they build a siege ramp^(x) against me and encamp around my tent.^(y)

"He has alienated my family^(z) from me; my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.^(aa)

My relatives have gone away; my closest friends^(ab) have forgotten me.

My guests^(ac) and my female servants^(ad) count me a foreigner; they look on me as on a stranger.

I summon my servant, but he does not answer, though I beg him with my own mouth.

My breath is offensive to my wife; I am loathsome^(ae) to my own family.

Even the little boys^(af) scorn me; when I appear, they ridicule me.^(ag)

All my intimate friends^(ah) detest me;^(ai) those I love have turned against me.^(aj)

I am nothing but skin and bones;^(ak) I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.^[a]

"Have pity on me, my friends,^(al) have pity, for the hand of God has struck^(am) me.

Why do you pursue^(an) me as God does?^(ao) Will you never get enough of my flesh?^(ap)

"Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll,^(aq)

that they were inscribed with an iron tool^(ar) on^[b] lead, or engraved in rock forever!^(as)

I know that my redeemer^[c](at) lives,^(au) and that in the end he will stand on the earth.^[d]

And after my skin has been destroyed, yet^[e] in^[f] my flesh I will see God;^(av)

I myself will see him with my own eyes^(aw)—I, and not another. How my heart yearns^(ax) within me!

"If you say, ‘How we will hound^(ay) him, since the root of the trouble lies in him,^[g]'

you should fear the sword yourselves; for wrath will bring punishment by the sword,^(az) and then you will know that there is judgment.^[h]"^(ba)