Job 19
1 Then Job answered:
Then Job answered and said,
2 “How long will you torment me and crush me with your words?
How long will all of you vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?
3 Ten times now you have reproached me; you shamelessly mistreat me.
These ten times have all of you reproached me: all of you are not ashamed that all of you make yourselves strange to me.
4 Even if I have truly gone astray, my error concerns me alone.
And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remains with myself.
5 If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me and use my disgrace against me,
If indeed all of you will magnify yourselves against me, and plead 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 has overthrown me, and has compassed 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, but 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 has fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he has set darkness in my paths.
9 He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head.
He has 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 has destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope has he removed like a tree.
11 His anger burns against me, and He counts me among His enemies.
He has also kindled his wrath against me, and he counts 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 come together, and raise up their way against me, and camp round about my tabernacle.
13 He has removed my brothers from me; my acquaintances have abandoned me.
He has put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily cut off from me.
14 My kinsmen have failed me, and my friends have forgotten me.
My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.
15 My guests and maidservants count me as a stranger; I am a foreigner in their sight.
They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an foreigner 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 gave me no answer; I implored 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, though I implored for the children's sake of mine own body.
18 Even little boys scorn me; when I appear, they deride me.
Yea, young children despised me; I arose, and they spoke against me.
19 All my best friends despise me, and those I love have turned against me.
All my inward friends abhorred 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 bone cleaves 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, O all of you my friends; for the hand of God has touched me.
22 Why do you persecute me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh?
Why do all of you 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 that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!
24 by an iron stylus on lead, or chiseled in stone forever.
That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!
25 But I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the end He will stand upon the earth.
For I know that my redeemer lives, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
26 Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.
And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in 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; though my reins be consumed within me.
28 If you say, ‘Let us persecute him, since the root of the matter lies with him,’
But all of you should say, Why persecute we him, seeing 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 all of you afraid of the sword: for wrath brings the punishments of the sword, that all of you may know there is a judgment.
