Job 19

1 Then responded Job, and said: —

Then Job answered and said,

2 How long will ye grieve my soul? or crush me with words?

How long will ye vex my soul, and destroy me with words? only know that the Lord has dealt with me thus.

3 These ten times, have ye reviled me, Shameless ye wrong me.

Ye speak against me; ye do not feel for me, but bear hard upon me.

4 And even if indeed I have erred, with myself lodgeth mine error.

Yea verily, I have erred in truth, (but the error abides with myself) in having spoken words which it was not right [to speak]; and my words err, and are unreasonable.

5 If indeed, against me, ye must needs magnify yourselves, and plead, against me, my reproach.

But alas! for ye magnify yourselves against me, and insult me with reproach.

6 Know, then, that, God, hath overthrown me, and, within his net, enclosed me.

Know then that it is the Lord that has troubled [me], and has raised his bulwark against me.

7 Lo! I cry—out: Violence! but receive no answer, I cry aloud, but there is no vindication;

Behold, I laugh at reproach; I will not speak: [or] I will cry out, but [there is] nowhere judgment.

8 My way, hath he walled up, that I cannot pass, and, upon my paths, hath he made darkness rest;

I am fenced round about, and can by no means escape: he has set darkness before my face.

9 My glory—from off me, hath he stripped, and hath removed the crown of my head;

And he has stripped me of my glory, and has taken 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 has torn me around about, and I am gone: and he has cut off my hope like a tree.

11 Yea he hath kindled against me his anger, and accounted me towards him like unto his adversaries;

And he has dreadfully handled me in anger, and has counted me for an enemy.

12 Together, enter his troops and have cast up, against me, their mound, and have encamped all around my tent;

His troops also came upon me with one accord, liars in wait compassed my ways.

13 My Brethren—from beside me, hath he moved far away, and, mine acquaintance, are wholly estranged from me;

My brethren have stood aloof from me; they have recognized strangers [rather] than me: and my friends have become pitiless.

14 Failed me, have my near of kin, and, mine intimate acquaintances, have forgotten me;

My nearest of kin have not acknowledged me, and they that knew my name, 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;

[As for] my household, and my maid-servants, I was a stranger before them.

16 To mine own servant, I called, and he would not answer, With mine own mouth, I kept entreating him;

I called my servant, and he hearkened not; and my mouth intreated [him].

17 My breath, is strange to my wife, and I am loathsome to the sons of my own mother;

And I besought my wife, and earnestly intreated the sons of my concubines.

18 Even young children, despise me, I rise up, and they speak against me;

But they rejected me for ever; whenever I rise up, they speak against me.

19 All the men of mine intimate circle abhor me, and, these whom I loved, have turned against me;

They that saw me abhorred me: the very persons whom I had loved, rose up 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 flesh is corrupt under my skin, and my bones are held in [my] teeth.

21 Pity me! pity me! ye, my friends, for, the hand of GOD, hath stricken me!

Pity me, pity me, O friends; for it is the hand of the Lord that has touched me.

22 Wherefore should ye persecute me as GOD? and, with my flesh, should not he satisfied?

Wherefore do ye persecute me as also the Lord [does], and are not satisfied with my flesh?

23 Oh, then, that my words, could be written, Oh that, in a record, they could be inscribed:

For oh that my words were written, and that they were recorded in a book forever,

24 That, with a stylus of iron and [with] lead, for all time—in the rock, they could be graven!

with an iron pen and lead, or graven in the rocks!

25 But, I, know that, my redeemer, liveth, and, as the Last over [my] dust, will he arise;

For I know that he is eternal who is about to deliver me,

26 And, though, after my skin is struck off, this [followeth], yet, apart from my flesh, shall I see GOD:

[and] to raise up upon the earth my skin that endures these [sufferings]: for these things have been accomplished to me of the Lord;

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!

which I am conscious of in myself, which mine eye has seen, and not another, but all have been fulfilled to me in [my] bosom.

28 Surely ye should say—Why should we persecute him? seeing, the root of the matter, is found in me.

But if ye shall also say, What shall we say before him, and [so] find the root of the matter in 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.

Do ye also beware of deceit: for wrath will come upon transgressors; and then shall they know where their substance is.