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1.
Then Job replied:
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2.
"How long will you torment me and crush me with words?
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3.
Ten times now you have reproached me; shamelessly you attack me.
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4.
If it is true that I have gone astray, my error remains my concern alone.
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5.
If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me and use my humiliation against me,
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6.
then know that God has wronged me and drawn his net around me.
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7.
"Though I cry, 'I've been wronged!' I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.
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8.
He has blocked my way so I cannot pass; he has shrouded my paths in darkness.
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9.
He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head.
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10.
He tears me down on every side till I am gone; he uproots my hope like a tree.
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11.
His anger burns against me; he counts me among his enemies.
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12.
His troops advance in force; they build a siege ramp against me and encamp around my tent.
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13.
"He has alienated my brothers from me; my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.
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14.
My kinsmen have gone away; my friends have forgotten me.
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15.
My guests and my maidservants count me a stranger; they look upon me as an alien.
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16.
I summon my servant, but he does not answer, though I beg him with my own mouth.
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17.
My breath is offensive to my wife; I am loathsome to my own brothers.
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18.
Even the little boys scorn me; when I appear, they ridicule me.
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19.
All my intimate friends detest me; those I love have turned against me.
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20.
I am nothing but skin and bones; I have escaped with only the skin of my teeth.
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21.
"Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me.
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22.
Why do you pursue me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh?
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23.
"Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll,
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24.
that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead, or engraved in rock forever!
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25.
I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.
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26.
And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God;
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27.
I myself will see him with my own eyes--I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!
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28.
"If you say, 'How we will hound him, since the root of the trouble lies in him,'
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29.
you should fear the sword yourselves; for wrath will bring punishment by the sword, and then you will know that there is judgment."
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