² “How long will you people make me suffer?
    How long will you crush me with your words?
³ You have already accused 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 family to desert me.
    The people I used to know are now strangers to me.
¹⁴ My relatives have gone away.
    My closest 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 family won’t have anything to do with me.
¹⁸ Even little children mock me.
    When I appear, they make fun of me.
¹⁹ All my close friends hate me.
    Those I love have turned against me.
²⁰ I’m nothing but skin and bones.
    I’ve barely escaped death.

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 in a book!
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 Though my skin will be destroyed,
    in my body I’ll 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 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.”