² “How long will you torment my soul,
And break me in pieces with words?
³ These ten times you have reproached me;
You are not ashamed that you have wronged me.^[a]
4 And if indeed I have erred,
My error remains with me.
⁵ If indeed you exalt yourselves against me,
And plead my disgrace against me,
⁶ Know then that God has wronged me,
And has surrounded me with His net.

⁷ “If I cry out concerning wrong, I am not heard.
If I cry aloud, there is no justice.
⁸ He has fenced up my way, so that I cannot pass;
And He has set darkness in my paths.
⁹ He has stripped me of my glory,
And taken the crown from my head.
¹⁰ He breaks me down on every side,
And I am gone;
My hope He has uprooted like a tree.
¹¹ He has also kindled His wrath against me,
And He counts me as one of His enemies.
¹² His troops come together
And build up their road against me;
They encamp all around my tent.

¹³ “He has removed my brothers far from me,
And my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.
¹⁴ My relatives have failed,
And my close friends have forgotten me.
¹⁵ Those who dwell in my house, and my maidservants,
Count me as a stranger;
I am an alien in their sight.
¹⁶ I call my servant, but he gives no answer;
I beg him with my mouth.
¹⁷ My breath is offensive to my wife,
And I am repulsive to the children of my own body.
¹⁸ Even young children despise me;
I arise, and they speak against me.
¹⁹ All my close friends abhor me,
And those whom I love have turned against me.
²⁰ My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh,
And I have escaped by 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!
²² Why do you persecute me as God does,
And are not satisfied with my flesh?

²³ “Oh, that my words were written!
Oh, that they were inscribed in a book!
²⁴ That they were engraved on a rock
With an iron pen and lead, forever!
²⁵ For I know that my Redeemer lives,
And He shall stand at last on the earth;
²⁶ And after my skin is destroyed, this I know,
That in my flesh I shall see God,
²⁷ Whom I shall see for myself,
And my eyes shall behold, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me!
²⁸ If you should say, ‘How shall we persecute him?’—
Since the root of the matter is found in me,
²⁹ Be afraid of the sword for yourselves;
For wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
That you may know there is a judgment.”

² “Therefore my anxious thoughts make me answer,
Because of the turmoil within me.
³ I have heard the rebuke that reproaches me,
And the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer.

⁴ “Do you not know this of old,
Since man was placed on earth,
⁵ That the triumphing of the wicked is short,
And the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment?
⁶ Though his haughtiness mounts up to the heavens,
And his head reaches to the clouds,
⁷ Yet he will perish forever like his own refuse;
Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’
⁸ He will fly away like a dream, and not be found;
Yes, he will be chased away like a vision of the night.
⁹ The eye that saw him will see him no more,
Nor will his place behold him anymore.
¹⁰ His children will seek the favor of the poor,
And his hands will restore his wealth.
¹¹ His bones are full of his youthful vigor,
But it will lie down with him in the dust.

¹² “Though evil is sweet in his mouth,
And he hides it under his tongue,
¹³ Though he spares it and does not forsake it,
But still keeps it in his mouth,
¹⁴ Yet his food in his stomach turns sour;
It becomes cobra venom within him.
¹⁵ He swallows down riches
And vomits them up again;
God casts them out of his belly.
¹⁶ He will suck the poison of cobras;
The viper’s tongue will slay him.
¹⁷ He will not see the streams,
The rivers flowing with honey and cream.
¹⁸ He will restore that for which he labored,
And will not swallow it down;
From the proceeds of business
He will get no enjoyment.
¹⁹ For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor,
He has violently seized a house which he did not build.

²⁰ “Because he knows no quietness in his heart,^[b]
He will not save anything he desires.
²¹ Nothing is left for him to eat;
Therefore his well-being will not last.
²² In his self-sufficiency he will be in distress;
Every hand of misery will come against him.
²³ When he is about to fill his stomach,
God will cast on him the fury of His wrath,
And will rain it on him while he is eating.
²⁴ He will flee from the iron weapon;
A bronze bow will pierce him through.
²⁵ It is drawn, and comes out of the body;
Yes, the glittering point comes out of his gall.
Terrors come upon him;
²⁶ Total darkness is reserved for his treasures.
An unfanned fire will consume him;
It shall go ill with him who is left in his tent.
²⁷ The heavens will reveal his iniquity,
And the earth will rise up against him.
²⁸ The increase of his house will depart,
And his goods will flow away in the day of His wrath.
²⁹ This is the portion from God for a wicked man,
The heritage appointed to him by God.”