Study Desk

Then Job responded,

"How long will you torment ^(F1)me And crush me with words?

-"These ten times you have insulted me; You are not ashamed to wrong me.

-"Even if I have truly done wrong, My error stays with me.

-"If indeed you ^(C1)exalt yourselves against me And prove my disgrace to me,

Know then that ^(C1)God has wronged me And has surrounded me with ^(C2)His net.

"Behold, ^(C1)I cry, 'Violence!' but I get no answer; I shout for help, but there is no justice.

-"He has ^(C1)blocked my way so that I cannot pass, And He has put ^(C2)darkness on my paths.

-"He has ^(C1)stripped my honor from me And removed the ^(C2)crown from my head.

-"He ^(C1)breaks me down on every side, and I am gone; And He has uprooted my ^(C2)hope ^(C3)like a tree.

-"He has also ^(C1)kindled His anger against me And ^(C2)considered me as His enemy.

-"His ^(C1)troops come together And ^(C2)build up their ^(F1)way against me And camp around my tent.

"He has ^(C1)removed my brothers far from me, And my ^(C2)acquaintances have completely turned away from me.

-"My relatives have failed, And my ^(C1)close friends have forgotten me.

-"Those who live in my house and my servant women consider me a stranger. I am a foreigner in their sight.

-"I call to my servant, but he does not answer; I have to implore his favor with my mouth.

-"My breath is offensive to my wife, And I am loathsome to my own brothers.

-"Even young children despise me; I stand up and they speak against me.

-"All ^(F1)my ^(C1)associates loathe me, And those I love have turned against me.

-"My ^(C1)bone clings to my skin and my flesh, And I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.

-"Pity me, pity me, you friends of mine, For the ^(C1)hand of God has struck me.

-"Why do you ^(C1)persecute me as God does, And are not satisfied with my flesh?

"Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were ^(C1)recorded in a book!

-"That with an iron stylus and lead They were engraved in the rock forever!

-"Yet as for me, I know that ^(C1)my Redeemer lives, And at the last, He will take His stand on the ^(F1)earth.

-"Even after my skin ^(F1)is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I will ^(C1)see God,

Whom I, on my part, shall behold for myself, And whom my eyes will see, and not another. My ^(F1)heart ^(C1)faints ^(F2)within me!

-"If you say, 'How shall we ^(C1)persecute him?' And '^(F1)What pretext for a case against him can we find?'

-"Then be afraid of ^(C1)the sword for yourselves, For wrath brings the punishment of the sword, So that you may know ^(C2)there is judgment."