Job 19

1 And Job answereth and saith: —

Then Job answered and said,

2 Till when do ye afflict my soul, And bruise me with words?

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

3 These ten times ye put me to shame, ye blush not. Ye make yourselves strange to me —

You speak against me; you do not feel for me, but bear hard upon me.

4 And also — truly, I have erred, With me doth my error remain.

Yes 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, truly, over me ye magnify yourselves, And decide against me my reproach;

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

6 Know now, that God turned me upside down, And His net against me hath set round,

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

7 Lo, I cry out — violence, and am not answered, I cry aloud, and there is no judgment.

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

8 My way He hedged up, and I pass not over, And on my paths darkness He placeth.

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

9 Mine honour from off me He hath stripped, And He turneth the crown from my head.

And he has stripped me of my glory, and has taken the crown from my head.

10 He breaketh me down round about, and I go, And removeth 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 And He kindleth against me His anger, And reckoneth me to Him as His adversaries.

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

12 Come in do His troops together, And they raise up against me their way, And encamp round about my tent.

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

13 My brethren from me He hath put far off, And mine acquaintances surely Have been estranged from me.

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

14 Ceased have my neighbours And my familiar friends have forgotten me,

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

15 Sojourners of my house and my maids, For a stranger reckon me: An alien I have been in their eyes.

[As for] my household, and my maidservants, I was a stranger before them.

16 To my servant I have called, And he doth not answer, With my mouth I make supplication to him.

I called my servant, and he listened not; and my mouth entreated [him].

17 My spirit is strange to my wife, And my favours to the sons of my [mother's] womb.

And I implored my wife, and earnestly entreated the sons of my concubines.

18 Also sucklings have despised me, I rise, and they speak against me.

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

19 Abominate me do all the men of my counsel, And those I have loved, Have been turned against me.

They that saw me abhorred me: the very persons whom I had loved, rose up against me.

20 To my skin and to my flesh Cleaved hath my bone, And I deliver myself with the skin 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 against me.

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

22 Why do you pursue me as God? And with my flesh are not satisfied?

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

23 Who doth grant now, That my words may be written? Who doth grant that in a book they may be graven?

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

24 With a pen of iron and lead — For ever in a rock they may be hewn.

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

25 That — I have known my Redeemer, The Living and the Last, For the dust he doth rise.

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

26 And after my skin hath compassed this [body], Then from my flesh 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 — I see on my side, And mine eyes have beheld, and not a stranger, Consumed have been my reins 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 But ye say, 'Why do we pursue after him?' And the root of the matter hath been found in me.

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

29 Be ye afraid because of the sword, For furious [are] the punishments of the sword, That ye may know that [there is] a judgment.

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