² “How long will you hurt me
    and crush me with your words?
³ You have insulted me ten times now.
    You have attacked me without shame!
⁴ Even if I have sinned,
    it is my problem, not yours!
⁵ You want me to look bad to make yourselves look good.
    You say my troubles are proof that I did wrong.
⁶ I want you to know it was God who did this.
    He set this trap for me.
⁷ I shout, ‘He hurt me!’ but get no answer.
    No one hears my cry for fairness.
⁸ God has blocked my way to keep me from getting through.
    He has hidden my path in darkness.
⁹ He took away my honor.
    He took the crown from my head.
¹⁰ He hits me on every side until I am worn out.
    He takes away my hope.
    It is like a tree pulled up by the roots.
¹¹ His anger burns against me.
    He treats me like an enemy.
¹² He sends his army to attack me.
    They build attack towers around me.
    They camp around my tent.

¹³ “God has made my brothers hate me.
    Those who knew me have become strangers.
¹⁴ My relatives have left me.
    My friends have forgotten me.
¹⁵ My servant girls and visitors in my home
    look at me as if I am a stranger and a foreigner.
¹⁶ I call for my servant, but he does not answer.
    Even if I beg for help, he will not answer.
¹⁷ My wife hates the smell of my breath.
    My own brothers hate me.
¹⁸ Even little children make fun of me.
    When I get up, they say bad things about me.
¹⁹ All my close friends hate me.
    Even my loved ones have turned against me.

²⁰ “I am so thin, my skin hangs loose on my bones.
    I have little life left in me.

²¹ “Pity me, my friends, pity me,
    because God is against me.
²² Why do you persecute me as God does?
    Don’t you get tired of hurting me?

²³ “I wish someone would write down everything I say.
    I wish my words were written on a scroll.
²⁴ I wish they were carved with an iron tool into lead
    or scratched on a rock so that they would last forever.
²⁵ I know that there is someone to defend me and that he lives!
    And in the end, he will stand here on earth and defend me.
²⁶ After I leave my body and my skin has been destroyed,
    I know I will still see God.
²⁷ I will see him with my own eyes.
    I myself, not someone else, will see God.
    And I cannot tell you how excited that makes me feel!^[a]

²⁸ “Maybe you will say, ‘How can we push Job a little harder
    and make him realize that he is the source of his problems?’
²⁹ But you need to worry about your own punishment.
    God might use the sword against you!
    Then you will know there is a time for judgment.”