Job 19
1 Then Job answered:
And Job answered and said,
2 “How long will you torment me and crush me with your words?
How long will ye vex my soul, and crush me with words?
3 Ten times now you have reproached me; you shamelessly mistreat me.
These ten times have ye reproached me; ye are not ashamed to stupefy me.
4 Even if I have truly gone astray, my error concerns me alone.
And be it [that] I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself.
5 If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me and use my disgrace against me,
If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, and prove against me my reproach,
6 then understand that it is God who has wronged me and drawn His net around me.
Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath surrounded me with his net.
7 Though I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.
Behold, I cry out of wrong, and I am not heard; I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.
8 He has blocked my way so I cannot pass; He has veiled my paths with darkness.
He hath hedged up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths.
9 He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head.
He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.
10 He tears me down on every side until I am gone; He uproots my hope like a tree.
He breaketh me down on every side, and I am gone; and my hope hath he torn up as a tree.
11 His anger burns against me, and He counts me among His enemies.
And he hath kindled his anger against me, and hath counted me unto him as one of his enemies.
12 His troops advance together; they construct a ramp against me and encamp around my tent.
His troops have come together and cast up their way against me, and have encamped round about my tent.
13 He has removed my brothers from me; my acquaintances have abandoned me.
He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are quite estranged from me.
14 My kinsmen have failed me, and my friends have forgotten me.
My kinsfolk have failed, and my known friends have forgotten me.
15 My guests and maidservants count me as a stranger; I am a foreigner in their sight.
The sojourners in my house and my maids count me as a stranger; I am an alien in their sight.
16 I call for my servant, but he does not answer, though I implore him with my own mouth.
I called my servant, and he answered not; I entreated him with my mouth.
17 My breath is repulsive to my wife, and I am loathsome to my own family.
My breath is strange to my wife, and my entreaties to the children of my [mother's] womb.
18 Even little boys scorn me; when I appear, they deride me.
Even young children despise me; I rise up, and they speak against me.
19 All my best friends despise me, and those I love have turned against me.
All my intimate friends abhor me, and they whom I loved are turned against me.
20 My skin and flesh cling to my bones; I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
My bones cleave to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.
21 Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me.
Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.
22 Why do you persecute me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh?
Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?
23 I wish that my words were recorded and inscribed in a book,
Oh would that my words were written! oh that they were inscribed in a book!
24 by an iron stylus on lead, or chiseled in stone forever.
That with an iron style and lead they were graven in the rock for ever!
25 But I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the end He will stand upon the earth.
And [as for] me, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and the Last, he shall stand upon the earth;
26 Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.
And [if] after my skin this shall be destroyed, yet from out of my flesh shall I see God;
27 I will see Him for myself; my eyes will behold Him, and not as a stranger. How my heart yearns within me!
Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another: — my reins are consumed within me.
28 If you say, ‘Let us persecute him, since the root of the matter lies with him,’
If ye say, How shall we persecute him? when the root of the matter is found in me,
29 then you should fear the sword yourselves, because wrath brings punishment by the sword, so that you may know there is a judgment.”
Be ye yourselves afraid of the sword! for the sword is fury against misdeeds, that ye may know there is a judgment.
