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He has put my brothers far from me, and my friends have withdrawn from me like strangers.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