Job 19
1 And Job made answer and said,
And Job answereth and saith: —
2 How long will you make my life bitter, crushing me with words?
Till when do ye afflict my soul, And bruise 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 ye put me to shame, ye blush not. Ye make yourselves strange to me —
4 And, truly, if I have been in error, the effect of my error is only on myself.
And also — truly, I have erred, With me doth my error remain.
5 If you make yourselves great against me, using my punishment as an argument against me,
If, truly, over me ye magnify yourselves, And decide 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 turned me upside down, And His net against me hath set round,
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.
Lo, I cry out — violence, and am not answered, I cry aloud, and there is no judgment.
8 My way is walled up by him so that I may not go by: he has made my roads dark.
My way He hedged up, and I pass not over, And on my paths darkness He placeth.
9 He has put off my glory from me, and taken the crown from my head.
Mine honour from off me He hath stripped, And He turneth 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 breaketh me down round about, and I go, And removeth like a tree my hope.
11 His wrath is burning against me, and I am to him as one of his haters.
And He kindleth against me His anger, And reckoneth me to Him as His adversaries.
12 His armies come on together, they make their road high against me, and put up their tents round mine.
Come in do His troops together, And they raise up against me their way, 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.
My brethren from me He hath put far off, And mine acquaintances surely Have been 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.
Ceased have my neighbours And my familiar friends have forgotten me,
15 I am strange to my women-servants, and seem to them as one from another country.
Sojourners of my house and my maids, For a stranger reckon me: An alien I have been in their eyes.
16 At my cry my servant gives me no answer, and I have to make a prayer to him.
To my servant I have called, And he doth not answer, With my mouth I make supplication to him.
17 My breath is strange to my wife, and I am disgusting to the offspring of my mother's body.
My spirit is strange to my wife, And my favours to the sons of my [mother's] womb.
18 Even young children have no respect for me; when I get up their backs are turned on me.
Also sucklings have despised me, I rise, and they speak against me.
19 All the men of my circle keep away from me; and those dear to me are turned against me.
Abominate me do all the men of my counsel, And those I have loved, Have been turned against me.
20 My bones are joined to my skin, and I have got away with my flesh in my teeth.
To my skin and to my flesh Cleaved hath my bone, And I deliver myself 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.
Pity me, pity me, ye my friends, For the hand of God hath stricken against me.
22 Why are you cruel to me, like God, for ever saying evil against me?
Why do you pursue me as God? And with my flesh are not satisfied?
23 If only my words might be recorded! if they might be put in writing in a book!
Who doth grant now, That my words may be written? Who doth grant that in a book they may be graven?
24 And with an iron pen and lead be cut into the rock for ever!
With a pen of iron and lead — For ever in a rock they may be hewn.
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;
That — I have known my Redeemer, The Living and the Last, For the dust he doth rise.
26 And ... without my flesh I will see God;
And after my skin hath compassed this [body], Then from my flesh 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 — I see on my side, And mine eyes have beheld, and not a stranger, Consumed have been my reins in my bosom.
28 If you say, How cruel we will be to him! because the root of sin is clearly in him:
But ye say, 'Why do we pursue after him?' And the root of the matter hath been 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 because of the sword, For furious [are] the punishments of the sword, That ye may know that [there is] a judgment.
