“For I know that my Redeemer and Vindicator lives,
And at the last He will take His stand upon the earth.

“My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh,
And I have escaped [death] by the skin of my teeth.

“Have pity on me! Have pity on me, O you my friends,
For the hand of God has touched me.

“Why do you persecute me as God does?
Why are you not satisfied with my flesh (anguish)?

“That with an iron stylus and [molten] lead
They were engraved in the rock forever!

Whom I, even I, will see for myself,
And my eyes will see Him and not another!
My heart faints within me.

“If you say, ‘How shall we [continue to] persecute him?’
And ‘What pretext for a case against him can we find [since we claim the root of these afflictions is found in him]?’

“Even after my [mortal] skin is destroyed [by death],
Yet from my [immortal] flesh I will see God,

“Then beware and be afraid of the sword [of divine vengeance] for yourselves,
For wrathful are the punishments of that sword,
So that you may know there is judgment.”

Then Job answered and said,

“Oh, that the words I now speak were written!
Oh, that they were recorded in a scroll!

“How long will you torment and exasperate me
And crush me with words?

“All the men of my council hate me;
Those I love have turned against me.

“He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone;
He has uprooted my hope like a tree.

“He has put my brothers far from me,
And my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.

“And if it were true that I have erred,
My error would remain with me [and I would be conscious of it].

“His troops come together
And build up their way and siege works against me
And camp around my tent.

“My relatives have failed [me],
And my intimate friends have forgotten me.

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

“If indeed you [braggarts] vaunt and magnify yourselves over me
And prove my disgrace (humiliation) to me,

“Behold, I cry out, ‘Violence!’ but I am not heard;
I shout for help, but there is no justice.

“My breath is repulsive to my wife,
And I am loathsome to my own brothers.

Know then that God has wronged me and overthrown me
And has closed His net around me.

“These ten times you have insulted me;
You are not ashamed to wrong me [and harden your hearts against me].

“He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass,
And He has set darkness upon my paths.

“Those who live [temporarily] in my house and my maids consider me a stranger;
I am a foreigner in their sight.

“Even young children despise me;
When I get up, they speak against me.

“I call to my servant, but he does not answer;
I have to implore him with words.

“He has also kindled His wrath [like a fire] against me
And He considers and counts me as one of His adversaries.