Job 19
1 And Job answered and said,
And Job made answer and said,
2 How long will ye vex my soul, and crush me with words?
How long will you make my life bitter, crushing me with words?
3 These ten times have ye reproached me; ye are not ashamed to stupefy me.
Ten times now you have made sport of me; it gives you no sense of shame to do me wrong.
4 And be it [that] I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself.
And, truly, if I have been in error, the effect of my error is only on myself.
5 If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, and prove against me my reproach,
If you make yourselves great against me, using my punishment as an argument against me,
6 Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath surrounded me with his net.
Be certain that it is God who has done me wrong, and has taken me in his net.
7 Behold, I cry out of wrong, and I am not heard; I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.
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.
8 He hath hedged up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths.
My way is walled up by him so that I may not go by: he has made my roads dark.
9 He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.
He has put off my glory from me, and taken the crown from my head.
10 He breaketh me down on every side, and I am gone; and my hope hath he torn up as a tree.
I am broken down by him on every side, and I am gone; my hope is uprooted like a tree.
11 And he hath kindled his anger against me, and hath counted me unto him as one of his enemies.
His wrath is burning against me, and I am to him as one of his haters.
12 His troops have come together and cast up their way against me, and have encamped round about my tent.
His armies come on together, they make their road high against me, and put up their tents round mine.
13 He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are quite estranged from me.
He has taken my brothers far away from me; they have seen my fate and have become strange to me.
14 My kinsfolk have failed, and my known friends have forgotten me.
My relations and my near friends have given me up, and those living in my house have put me out of their minds.
15 The sojourners in my house and my maids count me as a stranger; I am an alien in their sight.
I am strange to my women-servants, and seem to them as one from another country.
16 I called my servant, and he answered not; I entreated him with my mouth.
At my cry my servant gives me no answer, and I have to make a prayer to him.
17 My breath is strange to my wife, and my entreaties to the children of my [mother's] womb.
My breath is strange to my wife, and I am disgusting to the offspring of my mother's body.
18 Even young children despise me; I rise up, and they speak against me.
Even young children have no respect for me; when I get up their backs are turned on me.
19 All my intimate friends abhor me, and they whom I loved are turned against me.
All the men of my circle keep away from me; and those dear to me are turned against me.
20 My bones cleave to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.
My bones are joined to my skin, and I have got away with my flesh in my teeth.
21 Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.
Have pity on me, have pity on me, O my friends! for the hand of God is on me.
22 Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?
Why are you cruel to me, like God, for ever saying evil against me?
23 Oh would that my words were written! oh that they were inscribed in a book!
If only my words might be recorded! if they might be put in writing in a book!
24 That with an iron style and lead they were graven in the rock for ever!
And with an iron pen and lead be cut into the rock for ever!
25 And [as for] me, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and the Last, he shall stand upon the earth;
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;
26 And [if] after my skin this shall be destroyed, yet from out of my flesh shall I see God;
And ... without my flesh I will see God;
27 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another: — my reins are consumed within me.
Whom I will see on my side, and not as one strange to me. My heart is broken with desire.
28 If ye say, How shall we persecute him? when the root of the matter is found in me,
If you say, How cruel we will be to him! because the root of sin is clearly in him:
29 Be ye yourselves afraid of the sword! for the sword is fury against misdeeds, that ye may know there is a judgment.
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.
