Job 19
1 Then responded Job, and said: —
Then Job answered:
2 How long will ye grieve my soul? or crush me with words?
“How long will you torment me and crush me with your words?
3 These ten times, have ye reviled me, Shameless ye wrong me.
Ten times now you have reproached me; you shamelessly mistreat me.
4 And even if indeed I have erred, with myself lodgeth mine error.
Even if I have truly gone astray, my error concerns me alone.
5 If indeed, against me, ye must needs magnify yourselves, and plead, against me, my reproach.
If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me and use my disgrace against me,
6 Know, then, that, God, hath overthrown me, and, within his net, enclosed me.
then understand that it is God who has wronged me and drawn His net around me.
7 Lo! I cry—out: Violence! but receive no answer, I cry aloud, but there is no vindication;
Though I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.
8 My way, hath he walled up, that I cannot pass, and, upon my paths, hath he made darkness rest;
He has blocked my way so I cannot pass; He has veiled my paths with darkness.
9 My glory—from off me, hath he stripped, and hath removed the crown of my head;
He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head.
10 He hath ruined me on every side, and I am gone, and he hath taken away—like a tree—my hope;
He tears me down on every side until I am gone; He uproots my hope like a tree.
11 Yea he hath kindled against me his anger, and accounted me towards him like unto his adversaries;
His anger burns against me, and He counts me among His enemies.
12 Together, enter his troops and have cast up, against me, their mound, and have encamped all around my tent;
His troops advance together; they construct a ramp against me and encamp around my tent.
13 My Brethren—from beside me, hath he moved far away, and, mine acquaintance, are wholly estranged from me;
He has removed my brothers from me; my acquaintances have abandoned me.
14 Failed me, have my near of kin, and, mine intimate acquaintances, have forgotten me;
My kinsmen have failed me, and my friends have forgotten me.
15 Ye guests of my house and my maidens, A stranger, have ye accounted me, An alien, have I become in their eyes;
My guests and maidservants count me as a stranger; I am a foreigner in their sight.
16 To mine own servant, I called, and he would not answer, With mine own mouth, I kept entreating him;
I call for my servant, but he does not answer, though I implore him with my own mouth.
17 My breath, is strange to my wife, and I am loathsome to the sons of my own mother;
My breath is repulsive to my wife, and I am loathsome to my own family.
18 Even young children, despise me, I rise up, and they speak against me;
Even little boys scorn me; when I appear, they deride me.
19 All the men of mine intimate circle abhor me, and, these whom I loved, have turned against me;
All my best friends despise me, and those I love have turned against me.
20 Unto my skin and unto my flesh, have my bones cleaved, and I have escaped with the akin of my teeth.
My skin and flesh cling to my bones; I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21 Pity me! pity me! ye, my friends, for, the hand of GOD, hath stricken me!
Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me.
22 Wherefore should ye persecute me as GOD? and, with my flesh, should not he satisfied?
Why do you persecute me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh?
23 Oh, then, that my words, could be written, Oh that, in a record, they could be inscribed:
I wish that my words were recorded and inscribed in a book,
24 That, with a stylus of iron and [with] lead, for all time—in the rock, they could be graven!
by an iron stylus on lead, or chiseled in stone forever.
25 But, I, know that, my redeemer, liveth, and, as the Last over [my] dust, will he arise;
But I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the end He will stand upon the earth.
26 And, though, after my skin is struck off, this [followeth], yet, apart from my flesh, shall I see GOD:
Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.
27 Whom, I myself, shall see, on my side, and, mine own eyes, [shall] have looked upon, and not those of a stranger. Exhausted are my deepest desires in my bosom!
I will see Him for myself; my eyes will behold Him, and not as a stranger. How my heart yearns within me!
28 Surely ye should say—Why should we persecute him? seeing, the root of the matter, is found in me.
If you say, ‘Let us persecute him, since the root of the matter lies with him,’
29 Be ye afraid—on your part—of the face of the sword, because, wrath, [bringeth] the punishments of the sword, to the end ye may know the Almighty.
then you should fear the sword yourselves, because wrath brings punishment by the sword, so that you may know there is a judgment.”
