Then Job answered and said:
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How long will ye vex my soul, And crush me with words?
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These ten times have ye reproached me; Ye are not ashamed that ye deal harshly with me.
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And be it indeed that I have erred, Mine error remaineth with myself.
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If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, And plead against me my reproach;
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Know now that God hath subverted my cause, And hath compassed me with His net.
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Behold, I cry out: ‘Violence! ’ but I am not heard; I cry aloud, but there is no justice. .
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He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, And hath set darkness in my paths.
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He hath stripped me of my glory, And taken the crown from my head.
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He hath broken me down on every side, and I am gone; And my hope hath He plucked up like a tree.
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He hath also kindled His wrath against me, And He counteth me unto Him as one of His adversaries.
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His troops come on together, And cast up their way against me, And encamp round about my tent.
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He hath put my brethren far from me, And mine acquaintance are wholly estranged from me.
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My kinsfolk have failed, And my familiar friends have forgotten me.
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They that dwell in my house, and my maids, count me for a stranger; I am become an alien in their sight.
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I call unto my servant, and he giveth me no answer, Though I entreat him with my mouth.
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My breath is abhorred of my wife, And I am loathsome to the children of my tribe.
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Even urchins despised me; If I arise, they speak against me.
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All my intimate friends abhor me; And they whom I loved are turned against me.
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My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, And I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.
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Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; For the hand of God hath touched me.
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Why do ye persecute me as God, And are not satisfied with my flesh?
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Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
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That with an iron pen and lead They were graven in the rock for ever!
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But as for me, I know that my Redeemer liveth, And that He will witness at the last upon the dust;
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And when after my skin this is destroyed, Then without my flesh shall I see God;
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Whom I, even I, shall see for myself, And mine eyes shall behold, and not another’s. My reins are consumed within me.
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If ye say: ‘How we will persecute him! ’ Seeing that the root of the matter is found in me;
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Be ye afraid of the sword; For wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, That ye may know there is a judgment.
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