Job 19
1 And Job answers and says:
Then answered Job, and said,
2 “Until when do you afflict my soul, And bruise me with words?
How long will ye grieve my soul, and crush me with words?
3 These ten times you put me to shame, you do not blush. You make yourselves strange to me—
These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed when ye show yourselves as strangers to me.
4 And also—truly, I have erred, My error remains with me.
Yea, if it be indeed that I have erred, let my error remain with myself.
5 If, truly, you magnify yourselves over me, And decide my reproach against me;
But if indeed ye wish to magnify yourselves above me, and to prove against me my disgrace:
6 Know now, that God turned me upside down, And has set around His net against me,
Then know for certain that God hath bent me down, and hath laid his net all around me.
7 Behold, I cry out—violence, and am not answered, I cry aloud, and there is no judgment.
Behold, I cry out concerning the violence [done me], but I am not answered: I entreat aloud, but there is no justice.
8 He hedged up my way, and I do not pass over, And He places darkness on my paths.
My road hath he fenced up, so that I cannot pass out; and on my paths he placeth darkness.
9 He has stripped my honor from off me, And He turns the crown from my head.
My glory hath he stripped from me, and removed the crown of my head.
10 He breaks me down all around, and I go, And removes my hope like a tree.
He hath pulled me down on every side, and I am going hence; and he hath rooted up like a tree my hope.
11 And He kindles His anger against me, And reckons me to Him as His adversaries.
He hath also kindled against me his wrath, and he counteth me with himself as one of his adversaries.
12 His troops come in together, And they raise up their way against me, And encamp around my tent.
Altogether come on his troops, and make level against me their way, and encamp round about my tent.
13 He has put my brothers far off from me, And my acquaintances have surely been estranged from me.
My brothers hath he removed far from me, and my acquaintance are entirely estranged from me.
14 My neighbors have ceased And my familiar friends have forgotten me,
My near of kin have withdrawn, and those befriended by me have forgotten me.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.
Ye that sojourn in my house, and my maid-servants, regard me as a stranger: an alien am I become in their eyes.
16 I have called to my servant, And he does not answer, With my mouth I make supplication to him.
I call for my servant, but he will not answer, though I were to entreat him with my mouth.
17 My spirit is strange to my wife, And my favors to the sons of my [mother’s] womb.
My breath is become nauseous to my wife, and my caressing, to the children of my own body.
18 Also sucklings have despised me, I rise, and they speak against me.
Yea, children even despise me: I rise up, but they speak against me.
19 All the men of my counsel detest me, And those I have loved, Have been turned against me.
All that have had my confidence abominate me; and those whom I have loved are 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.
To my skin and to my flesh my bones do cleave, and I must sustain myself with the gums of my teeth.
21 Pity me, pity me, you my friends, For the hand of God has struck against me.
Spare me, spare me, O ye, my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.
22 Why do you pursue me as God? And are not satisfied with my flesh?
Why will ye persecute me as God [hath done], and will never be satisfied with my flesh?
23 Who grants now, that my words may be written? Who grants that they may be inscribed in a scroll?
Oh who would but grant, that my words might be written down! oh who would grant that they were entered in a book!
24 With a pen of iron and lead—They may be hewn in a rock forever.
That they were hewn with an iron pen and [blackened with] lead for eternity in the hard rock!
25 That—I have known my Redeemer, The Living and the Last, For He raises the dust.
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];
26 And after my skin has surrounded this [body], Then from my flesh I see God—
And after my skin is cut to pieces will this be: and then freed from my body shall I behold 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 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.
28 But you say, Why do we pursue after him? And the root of the matter has been found in me.
But if ye should say, How will we pursue him? seeing the root of the matter is found in me:
29 Be afraid because of the sword, For the punishments of the sword [are] furious, That you may know that [there is] a judgment.”
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].
