Job 19
1 Then Job answered,
Then answered Job, and said,
2 "How long will you torment me, and crush me with words?
How long will ye grieve my soul, and crush me with words?
3 You have reproached me ten times. You aren't ashamed that you attack me.
These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed when ye show yourselves as strangers to me.
4 If it is true that I have erred, my error remains with myself.
Yea, if it be indeed that I have erred, let my error remain with myself.
5 If indeed you will magnify yourselves against me, and plead my disgrace against me;
But if indeed ye wish to magnify yourselves above me, and to prove against me my disgrace:
6 know now that God has subverted me, and has surrounded me with his net.
Then know for certain that God hath bent me down, and hath laid his net all around me.
7 "Look, I cry out 'Injustice.' but there is no justice.
Behold, I cry out concerning the violence [done me], but I am not answered: I entreat aloud, but there is no justice.
8 He has walled up my way so that I can't pass, and has set darkness in 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 me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.
My glory hath he stripped from me, and removed the crown of my head.
10 He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone. My hope he has plucked up 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 He has also kindled his wrath against me. He counts me among 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 on together, build a siege ramp against me, and camp 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 from me. My acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.
My brothers hath he removed far from me, and my acquaintance are entirely estranged from me.
14 My relatives have gone away. My familiar friends have forgotten me.
My near of kin have withdrawn, and those befriended by me have forgotten me.
15 Those who dwell in my house, and my maids, count me for a stranger. I am a foreigner in their sight.
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 call to my servant, and he gives me no answer. I beg him with my mouth.
I call for my servant, but he will not answer, though I were to entreat him with my mouth.
17 My breath is offensive to my wife. I am loathsome to the children of my own mother.
My breath is become nauseous to my wife, and my caressing, to the children of my own body.
18 Even young children despise me. If I arise, they speak against me.
Yea, children even despise me: I rise up, but they speak against me.
19 All my familiar friends abhor me. They whom I loved have turned against me.
All that have had my confidence abominate me; and those whom I have loved are turned against me.
20 My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh. I have escaped by 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 "Have pity on me, have pity on me, you my friends; for the hand of God has touched me.
Spare me, spare me, O ye, my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.
22 Why do you persecute 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 "Oh that my words were now written. Oh that they were 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 That with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever.
That they were hewn with an iron pen and [blackened with] lead for eternity in the hard rock!
25 But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, he will stand upon the earth.
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 After my skin is destroyed, then in my flesh shall 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, even I, shall see on my side. My eyes shall see, and not as a stranger. My heart is consumed within me.
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 If you say, 'How we will persecute him, because the root of the matter is found in him.'
But if ye should say, How will we pursue him? seeing the root of the matter is found in me:
29 Be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishments of the sword, that you may know 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].
