17. My breath is abhorrent to my wife;I am loathsome to my very children.
18. Even young children despise me;when I appear, they speak against me.
19. All my intimate friends hold me in horror;those whom I loved have turned against me!
20. My bones cling to my skin,and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21. Pity me, pity me, you my friends,for the hand of God has struck me!
22. Why do you pursue me like God,and prey insatiably upon me?
23. Oh, would that my words were written down!Would that they were inscribed in a record:
24. That with an iron chisel and with leadthey were cut in the rock forever!
25. As for me, I know that my vindicator lives,and that he will at last stand forth upon the dust.
26. This will happen when my skin has been stripped off,and from my flesh I will see God: