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.”

² “You upset me, so I must answer you.
    I must tell you what I am thinking.
³ You insulted me with your answers!
    But I am wise and know how to answer you.

^4-5 “You know that the joy of the wicked does not last long.
    That has been true a long time, ever since Adam was^[b] put on earth.
    Those who don’t know God are happy for only a short time.
⁶ Maybe an evil man’s pride will reach up to the sky,
    and his head will touch the clouds.
⁷ But he will be gone forever like his own body waste.
    People who knew him will say, ‘Where is he?’
⁸ Like a dream, he will fly away, never to be found.
    He will be chased away like a bad dream.^[c]
9 Those who knew him before will not see him again.
    His family will never again get to see him.
¹⁰ His children will have to give back what he took from the poor.
    His own hands will give up his wealth.
¹¹ When he was young, his bones were strong,
    but, like the rest of his body, they will soon lie in the dirt.

¹² “Evil tastes sweet in his mouth.
    He keeps it under his tongue to enjoy it fully.
¹³ He hates to let it go
    and holds it in his mouth.
¹⁴ But that evil will turn sour in his stomach.
    It will be like a snake’s bitter poison inside him.
¹⁵ The evil man will spit out the riches he has swallowed.
    God will make him vomit them up.
¹⁶ What he drank will be like a snake’s poison;
    it will kill him like the bite of a deadly snake.
¹⁷ He will never again enjoy so much wealth—
    rivers flowing with honey and cream.^[d]
18 He will be forced to give back his profits.
    He will not be allowed to enjoy what he worked for,
¹⁹ because he hurt the poor and left them with nothing.
    He took houses he did not build.

²⁰ “The evil man is never satisfied.
    But the things he wants cannot save him.
²¹ After filling himself, there is nothing left.
    His success will not continue.
²² Even while he has plenty, he will be pressed down with trouble.
    His problems will come down on him!
²³ If he does get all he wants,
    God will throw his burning anger against him.
    God will attack him and rain down punishment on him.
²⁴ Maybe he will run away from an iron sword,
    but then a bronze arrow^[e] will strike him down.
²⁵ It will go through his body
    and stick out of his back.
Its shining point will pierce his liver,
    and he will be shocked with terror.
²⁶ All his treasures will be lost in darkness.
    He will be destroyed by a fire, a fire that no human started.
    It will destroy everything left in his house.
²⁷ Heaven will prove that he is guilty.
    The earth will be a witness against him.
²⁸ His house and everything in it will be carried away
    in the flood of God’s anger.
²⁹ That is what God will do to those who are evil.
    That is what he plans to give them.”