But I know my living Redeemer,
and He will stand on the dust at last.

My skin and my flesh cling to my bones;
I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

Have mercy on me, my friends, have mercy,
for God’s hand has struck me.

Why do you persecute me as God does?
Will you never get enough of my flesh?

or were inscribed in stone forever
by an iron stylus and lead!

I will see Him myself;
my eyes will look at Him, and not as a stranger.
My heart longs within me.

If you say, “How will we pursue him,
since the root of the problem lies with him?”

Even after my skin has been destroyed,
yet I will see God in my flesh.

then be afraid of the sword,
because wrath brings punishment by the sword,
so that you may know there is a judgment.

Then Job answered:

I wish that my words were written down,
that they were recorded on a scroll

How long will you torment me
and crush me with words?

All of my best friends despise me,
and those I love have turned against me.

He tears me down on every side so that I am ruined.
He uproots my hope like a tree.

He has removed my brothers from me;
my acquaintances have abandoned me.

Even if it is true that I have sinned,
my mistake concerns only me.

His troops advance together;
they construct a ramp against me
and camp around my tent.

My relatives stop coming by,
and my close friends have forgotten me.

He has stripped me of my honor
and removed the crown from my head.

If you really want to appear superior to me
and would use my disgrace as evidence against me,

I cry out: “Violence!” but get no response;
I call for help, but there is no justice.

My breath is offensive to my wife,
and my own family finds me repulsive.

then understand that it is God who has wronged me
and caught me in His net.

You have humiliated me ten times now,
and you mistreat me without shame.

He has blocked my way so that I cannot pass through;
He has veiled my paths with darkness.

My house guests and female servants regard me as a stranger;
I am a foreigner in their sight.

Even young boys scorn me.
When I stand up, they mock me.

I call for my servant, but he does not answer,
even if I beg him with my own mouth.

His anger burns against me,
and He regards me as one of His enemies.