Job 19
1 Then Job replied:
Then Job answered,
2 “How long will you [three] torment me and crush my spirit by saying to me [that I am wicked]?
“How long will you torment me, and crush me with words?
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]
You have reproached me ten times. You aren’t ashamed that you attack me.
4 Even if it were true that I have done things that are wrong, I have not injured you!
If it is true that I have erred, my error remains with myself.
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),
If indeed you will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach,
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.
know now that God has subverted me, and has surrounded 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.
“Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard. I cry for help, but there is no justice.
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.
He has walled up my way so that I can’t pass, and has set darkness in my paths.
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.
He has stripped me of my glory, and taken the 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].
He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone. He has plucked my hope up like a tree.
11 He attacks me because he is extremely angry with me [MET], and he considers that I am his enemy.
He has also kindled his wrath against me. He counts me among his adversaries.
12 [It is as though] he sends his army to attack me; they surround my tent, preparing to attack me.
His troops come on together, build a siege ramp against me, and encamp around my tent.
13 “God has caused my brothers to abandon me, and all those who know me act like strangers to me.
“He has put my brothers far from me. My acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.
14 All my relatives and good friends have left me.
My relatives have gone away. My familiar friends have forgotten 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.
Those who dwell in my house and my maids consider me a stranger. I am an alien in their sight.
16 When I summon my servants, they do not answer; I plead with them to come [to help me, but they do not come].
I call to my servant, and he gives me no answer. I beg him with my mouth.
17 My wife does not want to come close to me because my breath [smells very bad], and even my brothers detest me.
My breath is offensive to my wife. I am loathsome to the children of my own mother.
18 Even young children despise me; when I stand up [to talk to them], they laugh at me.
Even young children despise me. If I arise, they speak against me.
19 My dearest friends detest me, and those whom I love [very much] have turned against me.
All my familiar friends abhor me. They whom I loved have turned against me.
20 My body is [only] skin and bones; I am barely alive [IDM].
My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh. I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21 [“I plead with] you, my [three] friends, pity me, because God has (struck [EUP] me with his hand/caused me to suffer greatly).
“Have pity on me. Have pity on me, you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me.
22 Why do you cause me to suffer like God does? Why do you continue to slander [MET] me?
Why do you persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?
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].
“Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
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.
That with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock 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].
But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, he will stand upon the earth.
26 And even after diseases have eaten away my skin, while I still have my body, I will see God.
After my skin is destroyed, then I will see God in my flesh,
27 I will see him myself; I will see him with my own eyes! I am overwhelmed [as I think about that]!
whom I, even I, will see on my side. My eyes will see, and not as a stranger. “My heart is consumed within me.
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],’
If you say, ‘How we will persecute him!’ because the root of the matter is found in me,
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].”
be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishments of the sword, that you may know there is a judgment.”
