Job's Faith That God Will Vindicate Him

191 Then Job responded e , 2 "How long will you torment me And crush me with words ? 3 "These ten times you have insulted me; You are not ashamed to wrong me. 4 "Even if I have truly erred , My error lodges with me. 5 "If indeed you vaunt yourselves against me And prove my disgrace to me, 6 Know then that God has wronged me And has closed His net around me. 7 "Behold , I cry , 'Violence !' but I get no answer ; I shout for help , but there is no justice .

8 "He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass , And He has put darkness on my paths . 9 "He has stripped my honor from me And removed the crown from my head . 10 "He breaks me down on every side , and I am gone ; And He has uprooted my hope like a tree . 11 "He has also kindled His anger against me And considered me as His enemy . 12 "His troops come together , And build up their way against me And camp around my tent . 13 "He has removed my brothers far from me, And my acquaintances are completely estranged from me. 14 "My relatives have failed , And my intimate friends have forgotten me. 15 "Those who live in my house and my maids consider me a stranger . I am a foreigner in their sight . 16 "I call to my servant , but he does not answer ; I have to implore him with my mouth . 17 "My breath is offensive to my wife , And I am loathsome to my own brothers e . 18 "Even young children despise me; I rise up and they speak against me. 19 "All my associates abhor me, And those I love have turned against me. 20 "My bone clings to my skin and my flesh , And I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth . 21 "Pity me, pity me, O you my friends , For the hand of God has struck me. 22 "Why do you persecute me as God does, And are not satisfied with my flesh ?

23 "Oh e that my words were written ! Oh e that they were inscribed in a book ! 24 "That with an iron stylus and lead They were engraved in the rock forever ! 25 "As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives , And at the last He will take His stand on the earth . 26 "Even after my skin is destroyed , Yet from my flesh I shall see God ; 27 Whom I myself shall behold , And whom my eyes will see and not another . My heart faints within me! 28 "If you say , 'How shall we persecute him?' And 'What pretext for a case against him can we find ?' 29 "Then be afraid of the sword for yourselves, For wrath brings the punishment of the sword , So that you may know there is judgment ."