1 And lyoḇ answered and said,
2 “How long would you grieve my life, and crush me with words?
3 These ten times you have insulted me, shamelessly you attack me.
4 Even if I have truly gone astray, my straying remains with me.
5 If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me, and plead against me my reproach,
6 know then that Eloah has overthrown me, and has surrounded me with His net.
7 See, I cry, ‘Violence!’ but I am not heard. I cry aloud, but there is no right-ruling.
8 He has fenced up my way, and I do not pass over. And He has placed darkness in my paths.
9 He has stripped me of my esteem, and taken the crown from my head.
10 He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone; and uproots my expectancy like a tree.
11 And He kindled His wrath against me, and He counts me as one of His enemies.
12 His companies come together, and they cast up their way against me, and encamp all around my tent.
13 He has removed my brothers far away from me, and my friends are completely estranged from me.
14 My near ones have fallen away, and my close friends have forgotten me.
15 The guests in my house, and my female servants, reckon me for a stranger – I am a foreigner in their eyes.
16 I have called my servant, but he gives no answer – I have to beg him with my mouth.
17 My spirit is strange to my wife, and my kindness to the children of my own body.
18 Even young children have scorned me. I rise, and they speak against me.
19 All my intimate friends loathe 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 Show favour to me, show favour to me, O you my friends, for the hand of Eloah has struck me!
22 Why do you persecute me like Ĕl, and are not satisfied with my flesh?
23 Oh, that my words were written down! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book,
24 engraved on a rock with an iron pen and lead, forever!
25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and to the end, shall stand over the earth;
26 and after my skin has been struck off, then in my flesh I shall see Eloah,
27 whom I myself shall see on my side, and not a stranger. My kidneys have failed within me!
28 If you say, ‘Why do we persecute him?’ Seeing the root of the matter has been found in me,
29 fear the sword yourselves, for wrath is the punishment of the sword, so that you know there is a judgment.”