² “How long will you torment my soul,
And break me in pieces with words?
³ These ten times you have ^[a]reproached me;
You are not ashamed that you ^[b]have wronged me.
⁴ And if indeed I have erred,
My error remains with me.
⁵ If indeed you ^(A)exalt yourselves against me,
And plead my disgrace against me,
⁶ Know then that ^(B)God has wronged me,
And has surrounded me with His net.

⁷ “If I cry out concerning ^[c]wrong, I am not heard.
If I cry aloud, there is no justice.
^8 (C)He has ^[d]fenced up my way, so that I cannot pass;
And He has set darkness in my paths.
^9 (D)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 ^(E)hope He has uprooted like a tree.
¹¹ He has also kindled His wrath against me,
And ^(F)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^(G) 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 ^[e]repulsive to the children of my own body.
¹⁸ Even ^(H)young children despise me;
I arise, and they speak against me.
^19 (I)All my close friends abhor me,
And those whom I love have turned against me.
^20 (J)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 ^(K)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 ^[f]destroyed, this I know,
That ^(L)in my flesh I shall see God,
²⁷ Whom I shall see for myself,
And my eyes shall behold, and not another.
How my ^[g]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.”