Job 19
1 And Job answers and says:
Then Job answered, and said:
2 “Until when do you afflict my soul, And bruise me with words?
How long do you afflict my soul, and break me in pieces with words?
3 These ten times you put me to shame, you do not blush. You make yourselves strange to me—
Behold, these ten times you confound me, and are not ashamed to oppress me.
4 And also—truly, I have erred, My error remains with me.
For if I have been ignorant, my ignorance shall be with me.
5 If, truly, you magnify yourselves over me, And decide my reproach against me;
But you have set yourselves up against me, and reprove me with my reproaches.
6 Know now, that God turned me upside down, And has set around His net against me,
At least now understand, that God hath not afflicted me with an equal judgment, and compassed me with his scourges.
7 Behold, I cry out—violence, and am not answered, I cry aloud, and there is no judgment.
Behold I cry suffering violence, and no one will hear: I shall cry aloud, and there is none to judge.
8 He hedged up my way, and I do not pass over, And He places darkness on my paths.
He hath hedged in my path round about, and I cannot pass, and in my way he hath set darkness.
9 He has stripped my honor from off me, And He turns the crown from my head.
He hath stripped me of my glory, and hath taken the crown from my head.
10 He breaks me down all around, and I go, And removes my hope like a tree.
He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am lost, and he hath taken away my hope, as from a tree that is plucked up.
11 And He kindles His anger against me, And reckons me to Him as His adversaries.
His wrath is kindled against me, and he hath counted me as his enemy.
12 His troops come in together, And they raise up their way against me, And encamp around my tent.
His troops have come together, and have made themselves a way by me, and have besieged my tabernacle round about.
13 He has put my brothers far off from me, And my acquaintances have surely been estranged from me.
He hath put my brethren far from me, and my acquaintance like strangers have departed from me.
14 My neighbors have ceased And my familiar friends have forgotten me,
My kinsmen have forsaken me, and they that knew me, have forgotten me.
15 Sojourners of my house and my maids, Reckon me for a stranger; I have been an alien in their eyes.
They that dwelt in my house, and my maidservants have counted me a stranger, and I have been like an alien in their eyes.
16 I have called to my servant, And he does not answer, With my mouth I make supplication to him.
I called my servant, and he gave me no answer, I entreated him with my own mouth.
17 My spirit is strange to my wife, And my favors to the sons of my [mother’s] womb.
My wife hath abhorred my breath, and I entreated the children of my womb.
18 Also sucklings have despised me, I rise, and they speak against me.
Even fools despise me; and when I gone from them, they spoke against me.
19 All the men of my counsel detest me, And those I have loved, Have been turned against me.
They that were sometime my counsellors, have abhorred me: and he whom I love most is turned against me.
20 To my skin and to my flesh My bone has cleaved, And I deliver myself with the skin of my teeth.
The flesh being consumed. My bone hath cleaved to my skin, and nothing but lips are left about my teeth.
21 Pity me, pity me, you my friends, For the hand of God has struck against me.
Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you my friends, because the hand of the Lord hath touched me.
22 Why do you pursue me as God? And are not satisfied with my flesh?
Why do you persecute me as God, and glut yourselves with my flesh?
23 Who grants now, that my words may be written? Who grants that they may be inscribed in a scroll?
Who will grant me that my words may be written? Who will grant me that they may be marked down in a book?
24 With a pen of iron and lead—They may be hewn in a rock forever.
With an iron pen and in a plate of lead, or else be graven with an instrument in flint stone.
25 That—I have known my Redeemer, The Living and the Last, For He raises the dust.
For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and in the last day I shall rise out of the earth.
26 And after my skin has surrounded this [body], Then from my flesh I see God—
And I shall be clothed again with my skin, and in my flesh I will see my God.
27 Whom I see on my side, And my eyes have beheld, and not a stranger, My reins have been consumed in my bosom.
Whom I myself shall see, and my eyes shall behold, and not another: this my hope is laid up in my bosom.
28 But you say, Why do we pursue after him? And the root of the matter has been found in me.
Why then do you say now: Let us persecute him, and let us find occasion of word against him?
29 Be afraid because of the sword, For the punishments of the sword [are] furious, That you may know that [there is] a judgment.”
Flee then from the face of the sword, for the sword is the revenger of iniquities: and know ye that there is judgment.
