1. Job replied,
2. "How long will you people make me suffer? How long will you crush me with your words?
3. You have already made fun of me many times. You have attacked me without feeling any shame.
4. Suppose it's true that I've gone down the wrong path. Then it's my concern, not yours.
5. Suppose you want to place yourselves above me. Suppose you want to use my shame to prove I'm wrong.
6. Then I want you to know that God hasn't treated me right. In fact, he has captured me in his net.
7. "I cry out, 'Someone harmed me!' But I don't get any reply. I call out for help. But I'm not treated fairly.
8. God has blocked my way, and I can't get through. He has made my paths so dark I can't see where I'm going.
9. He has taken my wealth away from me. He has stripped me of my honor.
10. He tears me down on every side until I'm gone. He pulls up the roots of my hope as if I were a tree.
11. His anger burns against me. He thinks I'm one of his enemies.
12. His troops march toward me in force. They come at me from every direction. They camp around my tent.
13. "God has caused my brothers to desert me. The people I used to know are now strangers to me.
14. My family has gone away. My friends have forgotten me.
15. My guests and my female servants think of me as a stranger. They look at me as if I were an outsider.
16. I send for my servant, but he doesn't answer. He doesn't come, even though I beg him to.
17. My wife can't stand the way my breath smells. My own relatives won't have anything to do with me.
18. Even little children laugh at me. When I appear, they make fun of me.
19. All of my close friends hate me. Those I love have turned against me.
20. I'm nothing but skin and bones. I've only escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21. "Have pity on me, my friends! Please have pity! God has struck me down with his powerful hand.
22. Why do you chase after me as he does? Aren't you satisfied with what you have done to me already?
23. "I wish my words were written down! I wish they were written on a scroll!
24. I wish they were cut into lead with an iron tool! I wish they were carved in rock forever!
25. I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end he will stand on the earth.
26. After my skin has been destroyed, in my body I'll still see God.
27. I myself will see him with my own eyes. I'll see him, and he won't be a stranger to me. How my heart longs for that day!
28. "You might say, 'Let's keep bothering Job. After all, he's the cause of all of his suffering.'
29. But you should be afraid when God comes to judge you. He'll be angry. He'll punish you with his sword. Then you will know that he is the Judge."