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 you make me suffer and break me into pieces with words?
3 Ten times now you have reproached me; you shamelessly mistreat me.
These ten times you have reproached me; you are not ashamed that you have treated me harshly.
4 Even if I have truly gone astray, my error concerns me alone.
If it is indeed true that I have erred, my error remains my own concern.
5 If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me and use my disgrace against me,
If indeed you will exalt yourselves above me and use my humiliation against me,
6 then understand that it is God who has wronged me and drawn His net around me.
then you should know that God has done wrong to me and has caught me in his net.
7 Though I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.
See, I cry out, “Violence!” but I get no answer. I call out for help, but there is no justice.
8 He has blocked my way so I cannot pass; He has veiled my paths with darkness.
He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass, and he has set darkness in my path.
9 He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head.
He has stripped me of my glory, and he has 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 broken me down on every side, and I am gone; he has pulled up my hope like a tree.
11 His anger burns against me, and He counts me among His enemies.
He has also kindled his wrath against me; he regards me as one of his adversaries.
12 His troops advance together; they construct a ramp against me and encamp around my tent.
His troops come on together; they cast up siege mounds against me and encamp around my tent.
13 He has removed my brothers from me; my acquaintances have abandoned me.
He has put my brothers far from me; my acquaintances are wholly alienated from me.
14 My kinsmen have failed me, and my friends have forgotten me.
My kinsfolk have failed me; my close friends have forgotten me.
15 My guests and maidservants count me as a stranger; I am a foreigner in their sight.
Those who once stayed as guests in my house and my female servants regard 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 call to my servant, but he gives me no answer although I entreat him with my mouth.
17 My breath is repulsive to my wife, and I am loathsome to my own family.
My breath is offensive to my wife; I am even disgusting to those who were born from my mother's womb.
18 Even little boys scorn me; when I appear, they deride me.
Even young children despise me; if I rise to speak, they speak against me.
19 All my best friends despise me, and those I love have turned against me.
All my familiar friends abhor me; those whom I love have turned against me.
20 My skin and flesh cling to my bones; I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
My bones cling to my skin and to my flesh; I survive only by 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, 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 you pursue me like God does? Will you ever be satisfied with my flesh?
23 I wish that my words were recorded and inscribed in a book,
Oh, that my words were now written down! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book!
24 by an iron stylus on lead, or chiseled in stone forever.
Oh, that with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever!
25 But I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the end He will stand upon the earth.
But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at last he will stand on the earth;
26 Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.
after my skin, that is, this body, is destroyed, then in my flesh I will 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!
I will see him with my own eyes—I, and not someone else. My heart fails within me.
28 If you say, ‘Let us persecute him, since the root of the matter lies with him,’
If you say, 'How we will persecute him! The root of his troubles lies in him,'
29 then you should fear the sword yourselves, because wrath brings punishment by the sword, so that you may know there is a judgment.”
then be afraid of the sword, because wrath brings the punishment of the sword, so that you may know there is a judgment.”
