1Then Job answered and said , 2How long will ye vex my soul , And break me in pieces with words ? 3These ten times have ye reproached me : Ye are not ashamed that ye deal hardly with me . 4And be it indeed that I have erred , Mine error remaineth with myself. 5If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me , And plead against me my reproach ; 6Know now that God hath subverted me in my cause , And hath compassed me with his net .
Job's Integrity and Hope
7Behold , I cry out of wrong , but I am not heard : I cry for help , but there is no justice . 8He hath walled up my way that I cannot pass , And hath set darkness in my paths . 9He hath stripped me of my glory , And taken the crown from my head . 10He hath broken me down on every side , and I am gone ; And my hope hath he plucked up like a tree . 11He hath also kindled his wrath against me , And he counteth me unto him as one of his adversaries . 12His troops come on together , And cast up their way against me , And encamp round about my tent .
The Assurance of a Redeemer
13He hath put my brethren far from me , And mine acquaintance are wholly estranged from me . 14My kinsfolk have failed , And my familiar friends have forgotten me . 15They that dwell in my house , and my maids, count me for a stranger : I am an alien in their sight . 16I call unto my servant , and he giveth me no answer , Though I entreat him with my mouth . 17My breath is strange to my wife, And my supplication to the children of mine own mother. 18Even young children despise me ; If I arise , they speak against me . 19All my familiar friends abhor me , And they whom I loved are turned against me . 20My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh , And I am escaped with the skin of my teeth . 21Have pity upon me , have pity upon me , O ye my friends ; For the hand of God hath touched me . 22Why do ye persecute me as God , And are not satisfied with my flesh ?
Job's Confidence in the Future
23Oh that my words were now written ! Oh that they were inscribed in a book ! 24That with an iron pen and lead They were graven in the rock for ever ! 25But as for me I know that my Redeemer liveth , And at last he will stand up upon the earth : 26And after my skin , even this body , is destroyed , Then without my flesh shall I see God; 27Whom I , even I , shall see , on my side, And mine eyes shall behold , and not as a stranger . My heart is consumed within me . 28If ye say , How we will persecute him ! And that the root of the matter is found in me ; 29Be ye afraid of the sword : For wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword , That ye may know there is a judgment .