2“How long will you torment my soul,
And break me in pieces with words?
3These ten times you have [a]reproached me;
You are not ashamed that you [b]have wronged me.
4And if indeed I have erred,
My error remains with me.
5If indeed you exalt yourselves against me,
And plead my disgrace against me,
6Know then that 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.
8He has [d]fenced up my way, so that I cannot pass;
And He has set darkness in my paths.
9He has stripped me of my glory,
And taken the crown from my head.
10He breaks me down on every side,
And I am gone;
My hope He has uprooted like a tree.
11He has also kindled His wrath against me,
And He counts me as one of His enemies.
12His troops come together
And build up their road against me;
They encamp all around my tent.

13“He has removed my brothers far from me,
And my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.
14My relatives have failed,
And my close friends have forgotten me.
15Those who dwell in my house, and my maidservants,
Count me as a stranger;
I am an alien in their sight.
16I call my servant, but he gives no answer;
I beg him with my mouth.
17My breath is offensive to my wife,
And I am [e]repulsive to the children of my own body.
18Even young children despise me;
I arise, and they speak against me.
19All my close friends abhor me,
And those whom I love have turned against me.
20My 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!
22Why do you 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!
24That they were engraved on a rock
With an iron pen and lead, forever!
25For I know that my Redeemer lives,
And He shall stand at last on the earth;
26And after my skin is [f]destroyed, this I know,
That in my flesh I shall see God,
27Whom I shall see for myself,
And my eyes shall behold, and not another.
How my [g]heart yearns within me!
28If you should say, ‘How shall we persecute him?’—
Since the root of the matter is found in me,
29Be afraid of the sword for yourselves;
For wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
That you may know there is a judgment.”