Job 19
1 Then answered Job, and said,
Then Job answered and said,
2 How long will ye grieve my soul, and crush me with words?
How long will you vex my soul, and destroy me with words? only know that the Lord has dealt with me thus.
3 These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed when ye show yourselves as strangers to me.
You speak against me; you do not feel for me, but bear hard upon me.
4 Yea, if it be indeed that I have erred, let my error remain with myself.
Yes verily, I have erred in truth, (but the error abides with myself) in having spoken words which it was not right [to speak]; and my words err, and are unreasonable.
5 But if indeed ye wish to magnify yourselves above me, and to prove against me my disgrace:
But alas! for you magnify yourselves against me, and insult me with reproach.
6 Then know for certain that God hath bent me down, and hath laid his net all around me.
Know then that it is the Lord that has troubled [me], and has raised his bulwark against me.
7 Behold, I cry out concerning the violence [done me], but I am not answered: I entreat aloud, but there is no justice.
Behold, I laugh at reproach; I will not speak: [or] I will cry out, but [there is] nowhere judgement.
8 My road hath he fenced up, so that I cannot pass out; and on my paths he placeth darkness.
I am fenced round about, and can by no means escape: he has set darkness before my face.
9 My glory hath he stripped from me, and removed the crown of my head.
And he has stripped me of my glory, and has taken the crown from my head.
10 He hath pulled me down on every side, and I am going hence; and he hath rooted up like a tree my hope.
He has torn me around about, and I am gone: and he has cut off my hope like a tree.
11 He hath also kindled against me his wrath, and he counteth me with himself as one of his adversaries.
And he has dreadfully handled me in anger, and has counted me for an enemy.
12 Altogether come on his troops, and make level against me their way, and encamp round about my tent.
His troops also came upon me with one accord, liars in wait compassed my ways.
13 My brothers hath he removed far from me, and my acquaintance are entirely estranged from me.
My brethren have stood aloof from me; they have recognised strangers [rather] than me: and my friends have become pitiless.
14 My near of kin have withdrawn, and those befriended by me have forgotten me.
My nearest of kin have not acknowledged me, and they that knew my name, have forgotten me.
15 Ye that sojourn in my house, and my maid-servants, regard me as a stranger: an alien am I become in their eyes.
[As for] my household, and my maidservants, I was a stranger before them.
16 I call for my servant, but he will not answer, though I were to entreat him with my mouth.
I called my servant, and he listened not; and my mouth entreated [him].
17 My breath is become nauseous to my wife, and my caressing, to the children of my own body.
And I implored my wife, and earnestly entreated the sons of my concubines.
18 Yea, children even despise me: I rise up, but they speak against me.
But they rejected me for ever; whenever I rise up, they speak against me.
19 All that have had my confidence abominate me; and those whom I have loved are turned against me.
They that saw me abhorred me: the very persons whom I had loved, rose up against me.
20 To my skin and to my flesh my bones do cleave, and I must sustain myself with the gums of my teeth.
My flesh is corrupt under my skin, and my bones are held in [my] teeth.
21 Spare me, spare me, O ye, my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.
Pity me, pity me, O friends; for it is the hand of the Lord that has touched me.
22 Why will ye persecute me as God [hath done], and will never be satisfied with my flesh?
Therefore do you persecute me as also the Lord [does], and are not satisfied with my flesh?
23 Oh who would but grant, that my words might be written down! oh who would grant that they were entered in a book!
For oh that my words were written, and that they were recorded in a book forever,
24 That they were hewn with an iron pen and [blackened with] lead for eternity in the hard rock!
with an iron pen and lead, or graven in the rocks!
25 And well I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he will remain as the last after the creatures of the dust [are passed away];
For I know that he is eternal who is about to deliver me,
26 And after my skin is cut to pieces will this be: and then freed from my body shall I behold God;
[and] to raise up upon the earth my skin that endures these [sufferings]: for these things have been accomplished to me of the Lord;
27 Whom I shall myself behold to my happiness, and whom my eyes will see, and not as a stranger, [when even] my reins are consumed within my bosom.
which I am conscious of in myself, which mine eye has seen, and not another, but all have been fulfilled to me in [my] bosom.
28 But if ye should say, How will we pursue him? seeing the root of the matter is found in me:
But if you shall also say, What shall we say before him, and [so] find the root of the matter in him?
29 Then have dread for yourselves of the sword; for the wrath [which ye excite] is an iniquity that bringeth the sword; in order that ye may know there is one that judgeth [in the world].
Do you also beware of deceit: for wrath will come upon transgressors; and then shall they know where their substance is.
