Job 19
1 But Job answered by saying:
Then responded Job, and said: —
2 How long will you afflict my soul and wear me down with words?
How long will ye grieve my soul? or crush me with words?
3 So, ten times you confound me and are not ashamed to oppress me.
These ten times, have ye reviled me, Shameless ye wrong me.
4 Now, of course, if I have been ignorant, my ignorance will be with me.
And even if indeed I have erred, with myself lodgeth mine error.
5 But you have risen up against me, and you accuse me to my disgrace.
If indeed, against me, ye must needs magnify yourselves, and plead, 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, then, that, God, hath overthrown me, and, within his net, enclosed me.
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.
Lo! I cry—out: Violence! but receive no answer, I cry aloud, but there is no vindication;
8 He has hemmed in my path, and I cannot pass; he has added darkness to my difficult path.
My way, hath he walled up, that I cannot pass, and, upon my paths, hath he made darkness rest;
9 He has plundered me of my glory, and he has stolen the crown from my head.
My glory—from off me, hath he stripped, and hath removed the crown of 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 hath ruined me on every side, and I am gone, and he hath taken away—like a tree—my hope;
11 His fury has raged against me, and in this way he has treated me like his enemy.
Yea he hath kindled against me his anger, and accounted me towards him like unto his adversaries;
12 His troops have gathered together, and they have made their way to me, and they have besieged my tabernacle all around.
Together, enter his troops and have cast up, against me, their mound, and have encamped all around my tent;
13 He has put my brothers far from me, and my friends have withdrawn from me like strangers.
My Brethren—from beside me, hath he moved far away, and, mine acquaintance, are wholly estranged from me;
14 My kinsmen have forsaken me, and those who knew me, have forgotten me.
Failed me, have my near of kin, and, mine intimate acquaintances, 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.
Ye guests of my house and my maidens, A stranger, have ye accounted me, An alien, have I become in their eyes;
16 I called my servant, and he did not respond; I pleaded with him with my own mouth.
To mine own servant, I called, and he would not answer, With mine own mouth, I kept entreating him;
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 I am loathsome to the sons of my own mother;
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 the men of mine intimate circle abhor me, and, these whom I loved, have 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.
Unto my skin and unto my flesh, have my bones cleaved, and I have escaped with the akin 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.
Pity me! pity me! ye, my friends, for, the hand of GOD, hath stricken me!
22 Why do you pursue me just as God does, and satiate yourselves with my flesh?
Wherefore should ye persecute me as GOD? and, with my flesh, should not he satisfied?
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, then, that my words, could be written, Oh that, in a record, they could be inscribed:
24 with an iron pen and a plate of lead, or else be carved in stone?
That, with a stylus of iron and [with] lead, for all time—in the rock, they could be graven!
25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and on the last day I will rise out of the earth.
But, I, know that, my redeemer, liveth, and, as the Last over [my] dust, will he arise;
26 And I will be enveloped again with my skin, and in my flesh I will see my God.
And, though, after my skin is struck off, this [followeth], yet, apart from 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 myself, shall see, on my side, and, mine own eyes, [shall] have looked upon, and not those of a stranger. Exhausted are my deepest desires in my bosom!
28 Why then do you now say: “Let us pursue him, and let us find a basis to speak against him?”
Surely ye should say—Why should we persecute him? seeing, 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 afraid—on your part—of the face of the sword, because, wrath, [bringeth] the punishments of the sword, to the end ye may know the Almighty.
