Job 19
1 Then Job answered and said,
And Job answereth and saith: —
2 “How long will you make me suffer and break me into pieces with words?
Till when do ye afflict my soul, And bruise me with words?
3 These ten times you have reproached me; you are not ashamed that you have treated me harshly.
These ten times ye put me to shame, ye blush not. Ye make yourselves strange to me —
4 If it is indeed true that I have erred, my error remains my own concern.
And also — truly, I have erred, With me doth my error remain.
5 If indeed you will exalt yourselves above me and use my humiliation against me,
If, truly, over me ye magnify yourselves, And decide against me my reproach;
6 then you should know that God has done wrong to me and has caught me in his net.
Know now, that God turned me upside down, And His net against me hath set round,
7 See, I cry out, “Violence!” but I get no answer. I call out for help, but there is no justice.
Lo, I cry out — violence, and am not answered, I cry aloud, and there is no judgment.
8 He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass, and he has set darkness in my path.
My way He hedged up, and I pass not over, And on my paths darkness He placeth.
9 He has stripped me of my glory, and he has taken the crown from my head.
Mine honour from off me He hath stripped, And He turneth the crown from my head.
10 He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone; he has pulled up my hope like a tree.
He breaketh me down round about, and I go, And removeth like a tree my hope.
11 He has also kindled his wrath against me; he regards me as one of his adversaries.
And He kindleth against me His anger, And reckoneth me to Him as His adversaries.
12 His troops come on together; they cast up siege mounds against me and encamp around my tent.
Come in do His troops together, And they raise up against me their way, And encamp round about my tent.
13 He has put my brothers far from me; my acquaintances are wholly alienated from me.
My brethren from me He hath put far off, And mine acquaintances surely Have been estranged from me.
14 My kinsfolk have failed me; my close friends have forgotten me.
Ceased have my neighbours And my familiar friends have forgotten me,
15 Those who once stayed as guests in my house and my female servants regard me as a stranger; I am an alien in their sight.
Sojourners of my house and my maids, For a stranger reckon me: An alien I have been in their eyes.
16 I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer although I entreat him with my mouth.
To my servant I have called, And he doth not answer, With my mouth I make supplication to him.
17 My breath is offensive to my wife; I am even disgusting to those who were born from my mother's womb.
My spirit is strange to my wife, And my favours to the sons of my [mother's] womb.
18 Even young children despise me; if I rise to speak, they speak against me.
Also sucklings have despised me, I rise, and they speak against me.
19 All my familiar friends abhor me; those whom I love have turned against me.
Abominate me do all the men of my counsel, And those I have loved, Have been turned against me.
20 My bones cling to my skin and to my flesh; I survive only by the skin of my teeth.
To my skin and to my flesh Cleaved hath my bone, And I deliver myself with the skin of my teeth.
21 Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, my friends, for the hand of God has touched me.
Pity me, pity me, ye my friends, For the hand of God hath stricken against me.
22 Why do you pursue me like God does? Will you ever be satisfied with my flesh?
Why do you pursue me as God? And with my flesh are not satisfied?
23 Oh, that my words were now written down! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book!
Who doth grant now, That my words may be written? Who doth grant that in a book they may be graven?
24 Oh, that with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever!
With a pen of iron and lead — For ever in a rock they may be hewn.
25 But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at last he will stand on the earth;
That — I have known my Redeemer, The Living and the Last, For the dust he doth rise.
26 after my skin, that is, this body, is destroyed, then in my flesh I will see God.
And after my skin hath compassed this [body], Then from my flesh I see God:
27 I will see him with my own eyes—I, and not someone else. My heart fails within me.
Whom I — I see on my side, And mine eyes have beheld, and not a stranger, Consumed have been my reins in my bosom.
28 If you say, 'How we will persecute him! The root of his troubles lies in him,'
But ye say, 'Why do we pursue after him?' And the root of the matter hath been found in me.
29 then be afraid of the sword, because wrath brings the punishment of the sword, so that you may know there is a judgment.”
Be ye afraid because of the sword, For furious [are] the punishments of the sword, That ye may know that [there is] a judgment.
