Job 19
1 Then answered Job, and said,
Job replied,
2 How long will ye grieve my soul, and crush me with words?
“How long will you go on tormenting me? How long will you go on crushing me with words?
3 These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed when ye show yourselves as strangers to me.
Ten times already you have humiliated me. Aren't you ashamed for treating me so badly?
4 Yea, if it be indeed that I have erred, let my error remain with myself.
Even if I did sin, that's my problem, and has nothing to do with you.
5 But if indeed ye wish to magnify yourselves above me, and to prove against me my disgrace:
You think you're so much better than me, and you use my degradation against me.
6 Then know for certain that God hath bent me down, and hath laid his net all around me.
But you should realize that it's God who has wronged me, he has trapped me in his net.
7 Behold, I cry out concerning the violence [done me], but I am not answered: I entreat aloud, but there is no justice.
Even though I cry for help, I get no answer; even though I shout my objections, I get no justice.
8 My road hath he fenced up, so that I cannot pass out; and on my paths he placeth darkness.
God has walled me in so I can't escape; he has plunged my path into darkness.
9 My glory hath he stripped from me, and removed the crown of my head.
He has stripped my honor from me; he has taken away my reputation.
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 tears me down from all sides until I am finished; he has destroyed my hope like a tree that is uprooted.
11 He hath also kindled against me his wrath, and he counteth me with himself as one of his adversaries.
His anger burns against me; he treats me as one of his enemies.
12 Altogether come on his troops, and make level against me their way, and encamp round about my tent.
God's troops assemble to attack me. They build ramparts against me. They encircle and besiege my home.
13 My brothers hath he removed far from me, and my acquaintance are entirely estranged from me.
He has driven my brothers far away from me; all my former friends are estranged from me.
14 My near of kin have withdrawn, and those befriended by me have forgotten me.
My relatives have abandoned me; my close friends 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.
My house guests and my maidservants treat me as a stranger—to them I have become a foreigner.
16 I call for my servant, but he will not answer, though I were to entreat him with my mouth.
I call my servant, but he doesn't reply. I have to beg him!
17 My breath is become nauseous to my wife, and my caressing, to the children of my own body.
I am repulsive to my wife, and I am loathsome to my own brothers.
18 Yea, children even despise me: I rise up, but they speak against me.
Even young children despise me; when I stand up they ridicule me.
19 All that have had my confidence abominate me; and those whom I have loved are turned against me.
All my closest friends despise me, and those I loved have turned on me.
20 To my skin and to my flesh my bones do cleave, and I must sustain myself with the gums of my teeth.
I've been reduced to skin and bones and I survive by the skin of my teeth.
21 Spare me, spare me, O ye, my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.
Have pity on me, my friends, have pity on me, because God has struck me down!
22 Why will ye persecute me as God [hath done], and will never be satisfied with my flesh?
Why are you persecuting me like God does? Aren't you satisfied with getting your pound of 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!
I wish my words could be written down, recorded in a book,
24 That they were hewn with an iron pen and [blackened with] lead for eternity in the hard rock!
or engraved with an iron pen and molten lead in the rock forever.
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];
I know my Redeemer is alive, and that he shall finally take the stand for me on the earth.
26 And after my skin is cut to pieces will this be: and then freed from my body shall I behold God;
Even though my skin is destroyed, in my body I shall see God.
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.
I myself will see him—with my own eyes, and not those of someone else! The thought overcomes me!
28 But if ye should say, How will we pursue him? seeing the root of the matter is found in me:
You say to yourselves, ‘How can we make him suffer so he can see he is the source of his problems?’
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].
You yourselves should fear being punished by God, for you know anger brings God's punishment that accompanies judgment.”
