Job 19
1 But Job answered by saying:
And Job answered and said,
2 How long will you afflict my soul and wear me down with words?
How long will ye vex my soul, and crush me with words?
3 So, ten times you confound me and are not ashamed to oppress me.
These ten times have ye reproached me; ye are not ashamed to stupefy me.
4 Now, of course, if I have been ignorant, my ignorance will be with me.
And be it [that] I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself.
5 But you have risen up against me, and you accuse me to my disgrace.
If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, and prove against me my reproach,
6 At least now you should understand that God has not afflicted me with a balanced judgment, though he has encompassed me with his scourges.
Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath surrounded me with his net.
7 Behold, I will cry out, enduring violence, and no one will hear. I will announce loudly, but there is no one who may judge.
Behold, I cry out of wrong, and I am not heard; I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.
8 He has hemmed in my path, and I cannot pass; he has added darkness to my difficult path.
He hath hedged up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths.
9 He has plundered me of my glory, and he has stolen the crown from my head.
He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.
10 He has destroyed me on every side, and I am lost, and, like an uprooted tree, he has taken away my hope.
He breaketh me down on every side, and I am gone; and my hope hath he torn up as a tree.
11 His fury has raged against me, and in this way he has treated me like his enemy.
And he hath kindled his anger against me, and hath counted me unto him as one of his enemies.
12 His troops have gathered together, and they have made their way to me, and they have besieged my tabernacle all around.
His troops have come together and cast up their way against me, and have encamped round about my tent.
13 He has put my brothers far from me, and my friends have withdrawn from me like strangers.
He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are quite estranged from me.
14 My kinsmen have forsaken me, and those who knew me, have forgotten me.
My kinsfolk have failed, and my known friends have forgotten me.
15 The inhabitants of my house and my maidservants treat me just as if I were a stranger, and I have been like a sojourner in their eyes.
The sojourners in my house and my maids count me as a stranger; I am an alien in their sight.
16 I called my servant, and he did not respond; I pleaded with him with my own mouth.
I called my servant, and he answered not; I entreated him with my mouth.
17 My wife has shuddered at my breath, and I have begged the sons of my loins.
My breath is strange to my wife, and my entreaties to the children of my [mother's] womb.
18 Even the foolish have looked down on me, and, when I withdrew from them, they spoke ill of me.
Even young children despise me; I rise up, and they speak against me.
19 Those who were sometimes my counselors, treat me like an abomination; and he whom I valued the most has turned against me.
All my intimate friends abhor me, and they whom I loved are turned against me.
20 Since my flesh has been consumed, my bone adheres to my skin, and only my lips have been left around my teeth.
My bones cleave to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.
21 Have mercy on me, have compassion on me, at least you my friends, because the hand of the Lord has touched me.
Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.
22 Why do you pursue me just as God does, and satiate yourselves with my flesh?
Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?
23 Who will grant to me that my words may be written down? Who will grant to me that they may be inscribed in a book,
Oh would that my words were written! oh that they were inscribed in a book!
24 with an iron pen and a plate of lead, or else be carved in stone?
That with an iron style and lead they were graven in the rock for ever!
25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and on the last day I will rise out of the earth.
And [as for] me, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and the Last, he shall stand upon the earth;
26 And I will be enveloped again with my skin, and in my flesh I will see my God.
And [if] after my skin this shall be destroyed, yet from out of my flesh shall I see God;
27 It is he whom I myself will see, and he whom my eyes will behold, and no other. This, my hope, has taken rest in my bosom.
Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another: — my reins are consumed within me.
28 Why then do you now say: “Let us pursue him, and let us find a basis to speak against him?”
If ye say, How shall we persecute him? when the root of the matter is found in me,
29 So then, flee from the face of the sword, for the sword is the avenger of iniquities; but know this: there is to be a judgment.
Be ye yourselves afraid of the sword! for the sword is fury against misdeeds, that ye may know there is a judgment.
