² “I have heard many such things;
^(A)Miserable^[a] comforters are you all!
³ Shall ^[b]words of wind have an end?
Or what provokes you that you answer?
⁴ I also could speak as you do,
If your soul were in my soul’s place.
I could heap up words against you,
And ^(B)shake my head at you;
⁵ But I would strengthen you with my mouth,
And the comfort of my lips would relieve your grief.

⁶ “Though I speak, my grief is not relieved;
And if I remain silent, how am I eased?
⁷ But now He has ^(C)worn me out;
You ^(D)have made desolate all my company.
⁸ You have shriveled me up,
And it is a ^(E)witness against me;
My leanness rises up against me
And bears witness to my face.
^9 (F)He tears me in His wrath, and hates me;
He gnashes at me with His teeth;
^(G)My adversary sharpens His gaze on me.
¹⁰ They ^(H)gape at me with their mouth,
They ^(I)strike me reproachfully on the cheek,
They gather together against me.
¹¹ God ^(J)has delivered me to the ungodly,
And turned me over to the hands of the wicked.
¹² I was at ease, but He has ^(K)shattered me;
He also has taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces;
He has ^(L)set me up for His target,
¹³ His archers surround me.
He pierces my ^[c]heart and does not pity;
He pours out my gall on the ground.
¹⁴ He breaks me with wound upon wound;
He runs at me like a ^[d]warrior.

¹⁵ “I have sewn sackcloth over my skin,
And ^(M)laid my ^[e]head in the dust.
¹⁶ My face is ^[f]flushed from weeping,
And on my eyelids is the shadow of death;
¹⁷ Although no violence is in my hands,
And my prayer is pure.

¹⁸ “O earth, do not cover my blood,
And ^(N)let my cry have no resting place!
¹⁹ Surely even now ^(O)my witness is in heaven,
And my evidence is on high.
²⁰ My friends scorn me;
My eyes pour out tears to God.
^21 (P)Oh, that one might plead for a man with God,
As a man pleads for his ^[g]neighbor!
²² For when a few years are finished,
I shall ^(Q)go the way of no return.

³ “Now put down a pledge for me with Yourself.
Who is he who ^(T)will shake hands with me?
⁴ For You have hidden their heart from ^(U)understanding;
Therefore You will not exalt them.
⁵ He who speaks flattery to his friends,
Even the eyes of his children will ^(V)fail.

⁶ “But He has made me ^(W)a byword of the people,
And I have become one in whose face men spit.
^7 (X)My eye has also grown dim because of sorrow,
And all my members are like shadows.
⁸ Upright men are astonished at this,
And the innocent stirs himself up against the hypocrite.
⁹ Yet the righteous will hold to his ^(Y)way,
And he who has ^(Z)clean hands will be stronger and stronger.

¹⁰ “But please, ^(AA)come back again, ^[i]all of you,
For I shall not find one wise man among you.
^11 (AB)My days are past,
My purposes are broken off,
Even the ^[j]thoughts of my heart.
¹² They change the night into day;
‘The light is near,’ they say, in the face of darkness.
¹³ If I wait for the grave as my house,
If I make my bed in the darkness,
¹⁴ If I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’
And to the worm, ‘You are my mother and my sister,’
¹⁵ Where then is my ^(AC)hope?
As for my hope, who can see it?
¹⁶ Will they go down ^(AD)to the gates of ^[k]Sheol?
Shall we have ^(AE)rest together in the dust?”

² “How long till you put an end to words?
Gain understanding, and afterward we will speak.
³ Why are we counted ^(AG)as beasts,
And regarded as stupid in your sight?
^4 (AH)You^[l] who tear yourself in anger,
Shall the earth be forsaken for you?
Or shall the rock be removed from its place?

⁵ “The^(AI) light of the wicked indeed goes out,
And the flame of his fire does not shine.
⁶ The light is dark in his tent,
^(AJ)And his lamp beside him is put out.
⁷ The steps of his strength are shortened,
And ^(AK)his own counsel casts him down.
⁸ For ^(AL)he is cast into a net by his own feet,
And he walks into a snare.
⁹ The net takes him by the heel,
And ^(AM)a snare lays hold of him.
¹⁰ A noose is hidden for him on the ground,
And a trap for him in the road.
^11 (AN)Terrors frighten him on every side,
And drive him to his feet.
¹² His strength is starved,
And ^(AO)destruction is ready at his side.
¹³ It devours patches of his skin;
The firstborn of death devours his ^[m]limbs.
¹⁴ He is uprooted from ^(AP)the shelter of his tent,
And they parade him before the king of terrors.
¹⁵ They dwell in his tent who are none of his;
Brimstone is scattered on his dwelling.
^16 (AQ)His roots are dried out below,
And his branch withers above.
^17 (AR)The memory of him perishes from the earth,
And he has no name ^[n]among the renowned.
^18 [o]He is driven from light into darkness,
And chased out of the world.
^19 (AS)He has neither son nor posterity among his people,
Nor any remaining in his dwellings.
²⁰ Those ^[p]in the west are astonished ^(AT)at his day,
As those ^[q]in the east are frightened.
²¹ Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked,
And this is the place of him who ^(AU)does not know God.”

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

⁷ “If I cry out concerning ^[t]wrong, I am not heard.
If I cry aloud, there is no justice.
^8 (AX)He has ^[u]fenced up my way, so that I cannot pass;
And He has set darkness in my paths.
^9 (AY)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 ^(AZ)hope He has uprooted like a tree.
¹¹ He has also kindled His wrath against me,
And ^(BA)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^(BB) 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 ^[v]repulsive to the children of my own body.
¹⁸ Even ^(BC)young children despise me;
I arise, and they speak against me.
^19 (BD)All my close friends abhor me,
And those whom I love have turned against me.
^20 (BE)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 ^(BF)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 ^[w]destroyed, this I know,
That ^(BG)in my flesh I shall see God,
²⁷ Whom I shall see for myself,
And my eyes shall behold, and not another.
How my ^[x]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.”

^4 (F)Blessed is that man who makes the Lord his trust,
And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
^5 (G)Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works
Which You have done;
^(H)And Your thoughts toward us
Cannot be recounted to You in order;
If I would declare and speak of them,
They are more than can be numbered.

^6 (I)Sacrifice and offering You did not desire;
My ears You have opened.
Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.
⁷ Then I said, “Behold, I come;
In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
^8 (J)I delight to do Your will, O my God,
And Your law is ^(K)within my heart.”

^9 (L)I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness
In the great assembly;
Indeed, ^(M)I do not restrain my lips,
O Lord, You Yourself know.
^10 (N)I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart;
I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation;
I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth
From the great assembly.