He uproots my hope like a tree.

11 He is very angry at me.

He considers me to be his enemy.

12 His troops assemble against me.

They build a ramp to attack me and camp around my tent.

13 "My brothers stay far away from me.

My friends are complete strangers to me.

14 My relatives and my closest friends have stopped coming.

My house guests have forgotten me.

15 My female slaves consider me to be a stranger.

I am like a foreigner to them.

16 I call my slave, but he doesn't answer, though I beg him.

17 My breath offends my wife.

I stink to my own children.

18 Even young children despise me.

If I stand up, they make fun of me.

19 All my closest friends are disgusted with me.

Those I love have turned against me.

20 I am skin and bones, and I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.

21 "Have pity on me, my friends!

Have pity on me because Eloah's hand has struck me down.

22 Why do you pursue me as El does?

Why are you never satisfied with my flesh?

Job's Confidence in His Defender 23 "I wish now my words were written.

I wish they were inscribed on a scroll.

24 I wish they were forever engraved on a rock with an iron stylus and lead.a 25 But I know that my Go'el lives, and afterwards, he will rise on the earth.

26 Even after my skin has been stripped off my body, I will see Eloah in my own flesh.

27 I will see him with my own eyes, not with someone else's.

My heart fails inside me!

Job Warns His Friends 28 "You say, 'We will persecute him!

The root of the problem is found in him.'

29 Fear death, because your anger is punishable by death.

Then you will know there is a judge."

Zophar Speaks: Here Is My Answer 201 Then Zophar from Naama replied to Job, 2 "My disturbing thoughts make me answer, and because of them I am upset.

3 I have heard criticism that makes me ashamed, but a spirit beyond my understanding gives me answers.

A Wicked Person's Joy Is Short, His Pain Long 4 "Don't you know that from ancient times, from the time humans were placed on earth, 5 the triumph of the wicked is short-lived, and the joy of the godless person lasts only a moment?

6 If his height reaches to the sky and his head touches the clouds, 7 he will certainly rotb like his own feces.

Those who have seen him will say, 'Where is he?'

8 He will fly away like a dream and not be found.

He will be chased away like a vision in the night.

9 Eyes that saw him will see him no more.

His home will not look at him again.

10 His children will have to ask the poor for help.

His own hands will have to give back his wealth.

11 His bones, once full of youthful vigor, will lie down with him in the dust.

12 "Though evil is sweet in his mouth and he hides it under his tongue. . .

13 Though he savors it and won't let go of it and he holds it on the roof of his mouth, 14 the food in his belly turns sour.

It becomes snake venom in his stomach.

15 He vomits up the riches that he swallowed.

El forces them out of his stomach.

16 The godless person sucks the poison of snakes.

A viper's fang kills him.

17 He won't be able to drink from the streams or from the rivers of honey and buttermilk.

18 He will give back what he earned without enjoying it.

He will get no joy from the profits of his business 19 because he crushed and abandoned the poor.

He has taken by force a house that he didn't build.

20 He will never know peace in his heart.

He will never allow anything he desires to escape his grasp.

21 "Nothing is left for him to eat.

His prosperity won't last.

22 Even with all his wealth the full force of misery comes down on him.

23 Let that misery fill his belly.

God throws his burning anger at the godless person and makes his wrath come down on him like rain.

24 If that person flees from an iron weapon, a bronze bow will pierce him.

25 He pulls it out, and it comes out of his back.

The glittering point comes out of his gallbladder.

"Terrors come quickly to the godless person: 26 Total darkness waits in hiding for his treasure.

A fire that no one fans will burn him.

Whatever is left in his tent will be devoured.

27 Heaven exposes his sin.

Earth rises up against him.

28 A flood will sweep away his house, a flash flood on the day of his anger.

29 This is the reward Elohim gives to the wicked person, the inheritance El has appointed for him."

Job Speaks: Comfort Me by Listening to Me 211 Then Job replied to his friends, 2 "Listen carefully to my words, and let that be the comfort you offer me.

3 Bear with me while I speak.

Then after I've spoken, you may go on mocking.

4 Am I complaining about a person?

Why shouldn't I be impatient?

5 Look at me, and be shocked, and put your hand over your mouth.

6 When I remember it, I'm terrified, and shuddering seizes my body.

Wicked People Do Not Suffer for Their Sins 7 "Why do the wicked go on living, grow old, and even become more powerful?

8 They see their children firmly established with them, and they get to see their descendants.

9 Their homes are free from fear, and Eloah doesn't use his rod on them.

10 Their bulls are fertile when they breed.

Their cows give birth to calves and never miscarry.

11 They send their little children out to play like a flock of lambs, and their children dance around.

12 They sing with the tambourine and lyre, and they are happy with the music of the flute.

13 They spend their days in happiness, and they go peacefully to the grave.

14 But they say to El, 'Leave us alone.

We don't want to know your ways.

15 Who is Shadday that we should serve him?

What do we gain if we pray to him?'

16 Anyhow, isn't their happiness in their own power?

(The plan of the wicked is foreign to my way of thinking.) 17 "How often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out?

How often does disaster happen to them?

How often does an angry God give them pain?

18 How often are they like straw in the wind or like husks that the storm sweeps away?

19 "You say, 'Eloah saves a person's punishment for his children.'

Eloah should pay back that person so that he would know that it is a punishment.

20 His eyes should see his own ruin.