Study Desk

Then Job ^[a]responded,

"How long will you torment ^[b]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 erred, My error lodges with me.

"If indeed you ^(a)vaunt yourselves against me And prove my disgrace to me,

Know then that ^(b)God has wronged me And has closed ^(c)His net around me.

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

"He has ^(e)walled up my way so that I cannot pass, And He has put ^(f)darkness on my paths.

"He has ^(g)stripped my honor from me And removed the ^(h)crown from my head.

"He ⁽ⁱ⁾breaks me down on every side, and I am gone; And He has uprooted my ^(j)hope ^(k)like a tree.

"He has also ^(l)kindled His anger against me And ^(m)considered me as His enemy.

"His ⁽ⁿ⁾troops come together, And ^(o)build up their ^[c]way against me And camp around my tent.

"He has ^(p)removed my brothers far from me, And my ^(q)acquaintances are completely estranged from me.

"My relatives have failed, And my ^(r)intimate friends have forgotten me.

"Those who live in my house and my maids 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 him with my mouth.

"My breath is ^[d]offensive to my wife, And I am loathsome to my own brothers.

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

"All ^[e]my ^(s)associates abhor me, And those I love have turned against me.

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

"Pity me, pity me, O you my friends, For the ^(u)hand of God has struck me.

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

"Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were ^(w)inscribed in a book!

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

"As for me, I know that ^(x)my ^[f]Redeemer lives, And ^[g]at the last He will take His stand on the ^[h]earth.

"Even after my skin ^[i]is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall ^(y)see God;

Whom I ^[j]myself shall behold, And whom my eyes will see and not another. My ^[k]heart ^(z)faints ^[l]within me!

"If you say, ‘How shall we ^(aa)persecute him?' And ‘^[m]What pretext for a case against him can we find?'

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