Job 19
1 But Job answered by saying:
Job replied,
2 How long will you afflict my soul and wear me down with words?
“How long will you go on tormenting me? How long will you go on crushing me with words?
3 So, ten times you confound me and are not ashamed to oppress me.
Ten times already you have humiliated me. Aren't you ashamed for treating me so badly?
4 Now, of course, if I have been ignorant, my ignorance will be with me.
Even if I did sin, that's my problem, and has nothing to do with you.
5 But you have risen up against me, and you accuse me to my disgrace.
You think you're so much better than me, and you use my degradation against me.
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.
But you should realize that it's God who has wronged me, he has trapped me in 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.
Even though I cry for help, I get no answer; even though I shout my objections, I get no justice.
8 He has hemmed in my path, and I cannot pass; he has added darkness to my difficult path.
God has walled me in so I can't escape; he has plunged my path into darkness.
9 He has plundered me of my glory, and he has stolen the crown from my head.
He has stripped my honor from me; he has taken away my reputation.
10 He has destroyed me on every side, and I am lost, and, like an uprooted tree, he has taken away my hope.
He tears me down from all sides until I am finished; he has destroyed my hope like a tree that is uprooted.
11 His fury has raged against me, and in this way he has treated me like his enemy.
His anger burns against me; he treats me 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.
God's troops assemble to attack me. They build ramparts against me. They encircle and besiege my home.
13 He has put my brothers far from me, and my friends have withdrawn from me like strangers.
He has driven my brothers far away from me; all my former friends are estranged from me.
14 My kinsmen have forsaken me, and those who knew me, have forgotten me.
My relatives have abandoned me; my close 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.
My house guests and my maidservants treat me as a stranger—to them I have become a foreigner.
16 I called my servant, and he did not respond; I pleaded with him with my own mouth.
I call my servant, but he doesn't reply. I have to beg him!
17 My wife has shuddered at my breath, and I have begged the sons of my loins.
I am repulsive to my wife, and I am loathsome to my own brothers.
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; when I stand up they ridicule 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 closest friends despise me, and those I loved have turned on me.
20 Since my flesh has been consumed, my bone adheres to my skin, and only my lips have been left around my teeth.
I've been reduced to skin and bones and I survive by 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 on me, my friends, have pity on me, because God has struck me down!
22 Why do you pursue me just as God does, and satiate yourselves with my flesh?
Why are you persecuting me like God does? Aren't you satisfied with getting your pound of 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,
I wish my words could be written down, recorded in a book,
24 with an iron pen and a plate of lead, or else be carved in stone?
or engraved with an iron pen and molten lead in the rock forever.
25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and on the last day I will rise out of the earth.
I know my Redeemer is alive, and that he shall finally take the stand for me on the earth.
26 And I will be enveloped again with my skin, and in my flesh I will see my God.
Even though my skin is destroyed, in my body I shall 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.
I myself will see him—with my own eyes, and not those of someone else! The thought overcomes me!
28 Why then do you now say: “Let us pursue him, and let us find a basis to speak against him?”
You say to yourselves, ‘How can we make him suffer so he can see he is the source of his problems?’
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.
You yourselves should fear being punished by God, for you know anger brings God's punishment that accompanies judgment.”
