| English Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1Then Job answered and said: | 1Then Job answered: |
| 2“How long will you torment me and break me in pieces with words? | 2"How long will you torment me and crush me with your words? |
| 3These ten times you have cast reproach upon me; are you not ashamed to wrong me? | 3These ten times you have been reproaching me; you are not ashamed to attack me! |
| 4And even if it be true that I have erred, my error remains with myself. | 4But even if it were true that I have erred, my error remains solely my concern! |
| 5If indeed you magnify yourselves against me and make my disgrace an argument against me, | 5If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me and plead my disgrace against me, |
| 6know then that God has put me in the wrong and closed his net about me. | 6know then that God has wronged me and encircled me with his net. |
| 7Behold, I cry out, ‘Violence!’ but I am not answered; I call for help, but there is no justice. | 7"If I cry out, 'Violence!' I receive no answer; I cry for help, but there is no justice. |
| 8He has walled up my way, so that I cannot pass, and he has set darkness upon my paths. | 8He has blocked my way so I cannot pass, and has set darkness over my paths. |
| 9He has stripped from me my glory and taken the crown from my head. | 9He has stripped me of my honor and has taken the crown off my head. |
| 10He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone, and my hope has he pulled up like a tree. | 10He tears me down on every side until I perish; he uproots my hope like one uproots a tree. |
| 11He has kindled his wrath against me and counts me as his adversary. | 11Thus his anger burns against me, and he considers me among his enemies. |
| 12His troops come on together; they have cast up their siege ramp against me and encamp around my tent. | 12His troops advance together; they throw up a siege ramp against me, and they camp around my tent. |
| 13“He has put my brothers far from me, and those who knew me are wholly estranged from me. | 13"He has put my relatives far from me; my acquaintances only turn away from me. |
| 14My relatives have failed me, my close friends have forgotten me. | 14My kinsmen have failed me; my friends have forgotten me. |
| 15The guests in my house and my maidservants count me as a stranger; I have become a foreigner in their eyes. | 15My guests and my servant girls consider me a stranger; I am a foreigner in their eyes. |
| 16I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer; I must plead with him with my mouth for mercy. | 16I summon my servant, but he does not respond, even though I implore him with my own mouth. |
| 17My breath is strange to my wife, and I am a stench to the children of my own mother. | 17My breath is repulsive to my wife; I am loathsome to my brothers. |
| 18Even young children despise me; when I rise they talk against me. | 18Even youngsters have scorned me; when I get up, they scoff at me. |
| 19All my intimate friends abhor me, and those whom I loved have turned against me. | 19All my closest friends detest me; and those whom I love have turned against me. |
| 20My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. | 20My bones stick to my skin and my flesh; I have escaped alive with only the skin of my teeth. |
| 21Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me! | 21Have pity on me, my friends, have pity on me, for the hand of God has struck me. |
| 22Why do you, like God, pursue me? Why are you not satisfied with my flesh? | 22Why do you pursue me like God does? Will you never be satiated with my flesh? |
| 23“Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! | 23"O that my words were written down, O that they were written on a scroll, |
| 24Oh that with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever! | 24that with an iron chisel and with lead they were engraved in a rock forever! |
| 25For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. | 25As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that as the last he will stand upon the earth. |
| 26And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, | 26And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God, |
| 27whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me! | 27whom I will see for myself, and whom my own eyes will behold, and not another. My heart grows faint within me. |
| 28If you say, ‘How we will pursue him!’ and, ‘The root of the matter is found in him,’ | 28If you say, 'How we will pursue him, since the root of the trouble is found in him!' |
| 29be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishment of the sword, that you may know there is a judgment.” | 29Fear the sword yourselves, for wrath brings the punishment by the sword, so that you may know that there is judgment." |
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