Job 19

1 Then Job replied:

2 “How long will you [three] torment me and crush my spirit by saying to me [that I am wicked]?

3 You have already insulted me many [HYP] times; (are you not ashamed for saying these things to me?/you should be ashamed for saying these things to me.) [RHQ]

4 Even if it were true that I have done things that are wrong, I have not injured you!

5 If you truly think that you are better than I am, and you think that my being miserable now proves that I (am guilty/have committed many sins),

6 you need to realize that it is God who has caused me to suffer. [It is as though] he has trapped me with his net.

7 “I cry out, ‘Help me!’, but no one answers me. I call out loudly, but there is no one, [not even God, ] who acts fairly toward me.

8 [It is as though] [MET] God has blocked my way, with the result that I cannot go where I want to; [it is as though] he has forced me to try to find my way in the darkness.

9 He has (taken away my good reputation/caused people not to honor me any more); [it is as though] he removed [MET] a crown from my head.

10 He batters me from every side, and I will soon die. He has caused me to no longer confidently expect [him to do good things for me].

11 He attacks me because he is extremely angry with me [MET], and he considers that I am his enemy.

12 [It is as though] he sends his army to attack me; they surround my tent, preparing to attack me.

13 “God has caused my brothers to abandon me, and all those who know me act like strangers to me.

14 All my relatives and good friends have left me.

15 The people who were guests in my house have forgotten me, and my female servants consider that I am a stranger or that I am a foreigner.

16 When I summon my servants, they do not answer; I plead with them to come [to help me, but they do not come].

17 My wife does not want to come close to me because my breath [smells very bad], and even my brothers detest me.

18 Even young children despise me; when I stand up [to talk to them], they laugh at me.

19 My dearest friends detest me, and those whom I love [very much] have turned against me.

20 My body is [only] skin and bones; I am barely alive [IDM].

21 [“I plead with] you, my [three] friends, pity me, because God has (struck [EUP] me with his hand/caused me to suffer greatly).

22 Why do you cause me to suffer like God does? Why do you continue to slander [MET] me?

23 “I wish/desire that someone would take these words of mine and write them permanently in a book [in order that people can read them].

24 Or else, I wish that he would carve them on a rock with (a chisel/an iron tool) in order that they would last forever.

25 But I know that the one who vindicates/defends me in court is alive, and that some day he will stand [here] on the earth [and make the final decision about whether I deserve to be punished].

26 And even after diseases have eaten away my skin, while I still have my body, I will see God.

27 I will see him myself; I will see him with my own eyes! I am overwhelmed [as I think about that]!

28 “If you three men say, ‘What more can we do to cause Job to suffer?’ and if you say, ‘He has caused his own [troubles],’

29 you should be afraid that God will punish [MTY] you; he punishes those [like you] with whom he is angry; and when that happens, you will know that there is [someone who] judges [people].”