Job 19
1 And Job made answer and said,
Then Job answered and said:
2 How long will you make my life bitter, crushing me with words?
How long will ye vex my soul, and crush me with words?
3 Ten times now you have made sport of me; it gives you no sense of shame to do me wrong.
These ten times have ye reproached me; ye are not ashamed that ye deal harshly with me.
4 And, truly, if I have been in error, the effect of my error is only on myself.
And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself.
5 If you make yourselves great against me, using my punishment as an argument against me,
If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach;
6 Be certain that it is God who has done me wrong, and has taken me in his net.
Know now that God hath subverted my cause, and hath compassed me with His net.
7 Truly, I make an outcry against the violent man, but there is no answer: I give a cry for help, but no one takes up my cause.
Behold, I cry out: 'Violence!' but I am not heard; I cry aloud, but there is no justice.
8 My way is walled up by him so that I may not go by: he has made my roads dark.
He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and hath set darkness in my paths.
9 He has put off my glory from me, and taken the crown from my head.
He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.
10 I am broken down by him on every side, and I am gone; my hope is uprooted like a tree.
He hath broken me down on every side, and I am gone; and my hope hath He plucked up like a tree.
11 His wrath is burning against me, and I am to him as one of his haters.
He hath also kindled His wrath against me, and He counteth me unto Him as one of His adversaries.
12 His armies come on together, they make their road high against me, and put up their tents round mine.
His troops come on together, and cast up their way against me, and encamp round about my tent.
13 He has taken my brothers far away from me; they have seen my fate and have become strange to me.
He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are wholly estranged from me.
14 My relations and my near friends have given me up, and those living in my house have put me out of their minds.
My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.
15 I am strange to my women-servants, and seem to them as one from another country.
They that dwell in my house, and my maids, count me for a stranger; I am become an alien in their sight.
16 At my cry my servant gives me no answer, and I have to make a prayer to him.
I call unto my servant, and he giveth me no answer, though I entreat him with my mouth.
17 My breath is strange to my wife, and I am disgusting to the offspring of my mother's body.
My breath is abhorred of my wife, and I am loathsome to the children of my tribe.
18 Even young children have no respect for me; when I get up their backs are turned on me.
Even urchins despised me; if I arise, they speak against me.
19 All the men of my circle keep away from me; and those dear to me are turned against me.
All my intimate friends abhor me; and they whom I loved are turned against me.
20 My bones are joined to my skin, and I have got away with my flesh in my teeth.
My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.
21 Have pity on me, have pity on me, O my friends! for the hand of God is on me.
Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.
22 Why are you cruel to me, like God, for ever saying evil against me?
Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?
23 If only my words might be recorded! if they might be put in writing in a book!
Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
24 And with an iron pen and lead be cut into the rock for ever!
That with an iron pen and lead they were graven in the rock for ever!
25 But I am certain that he who will take up my cause is living, and that in time to come he will take his place on the dust;
But as for me, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He will witness at the last upon the dust;
26 And ... without my flesh I will see God;
And when after my skin this is destroyed, then without my flesh shall I see God;
27 Whom I will see on my side, and not as one strange to me. My heart is broken with desire.
Whom I, even I, shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another's. My reins are consumed within me.
28 If you say, How cruel we will be to him! because the root of sin is clearly in him:
If ye say: 'How we will persecute him!' seeing that the root of the matter is found in me;
29 Be in fear of the sword, for the sword is the punishment for such things, so that you may be certain that there is a judge.
Be ye afraid of the sword; for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment.
