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 will ye vex 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—
These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed that ye deal hardly with me.
4 And also—truly, I have erred, My error remains with me.
And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself.
5 If, truly, you magnify yourselves over me, And decide my reproach against me;
If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach:
6 Know now, that God turned me upside down, And has set around His net against me,
Know now that God hath subverted me [in my cause], and hath compassed me with his net.
7 Behold, I cry out—violence, and am not answered, I cry aloud, and there is no judgment.
Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry for help, but there is no judgment.
8 He hedged up my way, and I do not pass over, And He places darkness on my paths.
He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and hath set darkness in my paths.
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 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 broken me down on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he plucked up like a tree.
11 And He kindles His anger against me, And reckons me to Him as His adversaries.
He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto him as [one of] his adversaries.
12 His troops come in together, And they raise up their way against me, And encamp around my tent.
His troops come on together, and cast up their way against me, 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.
He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are wholly estranged from me.
14 My neighbors have ceased And my familiar friends have forgotten me,
My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends 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 dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight.
16 I have called to my servant, And he does not answer, With my mouth I make supplication to him.
I call unto my servant, and he giveth me no answer, [though] I 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 strange to my wife, and my supplication to the children of my [mother’s] womb.
18 Also sucklings have despised me, I rise, and they speak against me.
Even young children despise me; if I arise, they speak against me.
19 All the men of my counsel detest me, And those I have loved, Have been turned against me.
All my inward friends abhor me: and they whom I 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.
My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.
21 Pity me, pity me, you my friends, For the hand of God has struck against me.
Have pity upon me, have pity upon 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 do ye persecute me as God, and are not 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 that my words were now written! oh that they were inscribed in a book!
24 With a pen of iron and lead—They may be hewn in a rock forever.
That with an iron pen and lead they were graven in the rock for ever!
25 That—I have known my Redeemer, The Living and the Last, For He raises the dust.
But I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand up at the last upon the earth:
26 And after my skin has surrounded this [body], Then from my flesh I see God—
And after my skin hath been thus destroyed, yet from my flesh shall I see 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 see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another. My reins are consumed within me.
28 But you say, Why do we pursue after him? And the root of the matter has been found in me.
If ye say, How we will persecute him! seeing that 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.”
Be ye afraid of the sword: for wrath [bringeth] the punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment.
