New King James Version

Christian Standard Bible

1Then Job answered and said:

1Then Job answered:

2“How long will you torment my soul, And break me in pieces with words?

2How long will you torment me and crush me with words?

3These ten times you have reproached me; You are not ashamed that you have wronged me.

3You have humiliated me ten times now, and you mistreat me without shame.

4And if indeed I have erred, My error remains with me.

4Even if it is true that I have sinned, my mistake concerns only me.

5If indeed you exalt yourselves against me, And plead my disgrace against me,

5If you really want to appear superior to me and would use my disgrace as evidence against me,

6Know then that God has wronged me, And has surrounded me with His net.

6then understand that it is God who has wronged me and caught me in his net.

7“If I cry out concerning wrong, I am not heard. If I cry aloud, there is no justice.

7I cry out: "Violence!" but get no response; I call for help, but there is no justice.

8He has fenced up my way, so that I cannot pass; And He has set darkness in my paths.

8He has blocked my way so that I cannot pass through; he has veiled my paths with darkness.

9He has stripped me of my glory, And taken the crown from my head.

9He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head.

10He breaks me down on every side, And I am gone; My hope He has uprooted like a tree.

10He tears me down on every side so that I am ruined. He uproots my hope like a tree.

11He has also kindled His wrath against me, And He counts me as one of His enemies.

11His anger burns against me, and he regards me as one of his enemies.

12His troops come together And build up their road against me; They encamp all around my tent.

12His troops advance together; they construct a ramp against me and camp around my tent.

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

13He has removed my brothers from me; my acquaintances have abandoned me.

14My relatives have failed, And my close friends have forgotten me.

14My relatives stop coming by, 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.

15My house guests and female servants regard me as a stranger; I am a foreigner in their sight.

16I call my servant, but he gives no answer; I beg him with my mouth.

16I call for my servant, but he does not answer, even if I beg him with my own mouth.

17My breath is offensive to my wife, And I am repulsive to the children of my own body.

17My breath is offensive to my wife, and my own family finds me repulsive.

18Even young children despise me; I arise, and they speak against me.

18Even young boys scorn me. When I stand up, they mock me.

19All my close friends abhor me, And those whom I love have turned against me.

19All of my best friends despise me, and those 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.

20My skin and my flesh cling to my bones; I have escaped with only 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!

21Have mercy on me, my friends, have mercy, for God's hand has struck me.

22Why do you persecute me as God does, And are not satisfied with my flesh?

22Why do you persecute me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh?

23“Oh, that my words were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book!

23I wish that my words were written down, that they were recorded on a scroll

24That they were engraved on a rock With an iron pen and lead, forever!

24or were inscribed in stone forever by an iron stylus and lead!

25For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth;

25But I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the end he will stand on the dust.

26And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God,

26Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet I will see God in my flesh.

27Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

27I will see him myself; my eyes will look at him, and not as a stranger. My heart longs within me.

28If you should say, ‘How shall we persecute him?’— Since the root of the matter is found in me,

28If you say, "How will we pursue him, since the root of the problem lies with him?"

29Be afraid of the sword for yourselves; For wrath brings the punishment of the sword, That you may know there is a judgment.”

29then be afraid of the sword, because wrath brings punishment by the sword, so that you may know there is a judgment.

The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.

The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.