Job 19
1 And Job answereth and saith: —
Then Job answered,
2 Till when do ye afflict my soul, And bruise me with words?
“How long will you torment me, and crush me with words?
3 These ten times ye put me to shame, ye blush not. Ye make yourselves strange to me —
You have reproached me ten times. You aren’t ashamed that you attack me.
4 And also — truly, I have erred, With me doth my error remain.
If it is true that I have erred, my error remains with myself.
5 If, truly, over me ye magnify yourselves, And decide against me my reproach;
If indeed you will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach,
6 Know now, that God turned me upside down, And His net against me hath set round,
know now that God has subverted me, and has surrounded me with his net.
7 Lo, I cry out — violence, and am not answered, I cry aloud, and there is no judgment.
“Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard. I cry for help, but there is no justice.
8 My way He hedged up, and I pass not over, And on my paths darkness He placeth.
He has walled up my way so that I can’t pass, and has set darkness in my paths.
9 Mine honour from off me He hath stripped, And He turneth the crown from my head.
He has stripped me of my glory, and 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 broken me down on every side, and I am gone. He has plucked my hope up like a tree.
11 And He kindleth against me His anger, And reckoneth me to Him as His adversaries.
He has also kindled his wrath against me. He counts me amongst his adversaries.
12 Come in do His troops together, And they raise up against me their way, And encamp round about my tent.
His troops come on together, build a siege ramp against me, and encamp around my tent.
13 My brethren from me He hath put far off, And mine acquaintances surely Have been estranged from me.
“He has put my brothers far from me. My acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.
14 Ceased have my neighbours And my familiar friends have forgotten me,
My relatives have gone away. My familiar friends have forgotten me.
15 Sojourners of my house and my maids, For a stranger reckon me: An alien I have been in their eyes.
Those who dwell in my house and my maids consider me a stranger. I am an alien in their sight.
16 To my servant I have called, And he doth not answer, With my mouth I make supplication to him.
I call to my servant, and he gives me no answer. I beg him with my mouth.
17 My spirit is strange to my wife, And my favours to the sons of my [mother's] womb.
My breath is offensive to my wife. I am loathsome to the children of my own mother.
18 Also sucklings have despised me, I rise, and they speak against me.
Even young children despise me. If I arise, they speak against me.
19 Abominate me do all the men of my counsel, And those I have loved, Have been turned against me.
All my familiar friends abhor me. They whom I loved have turned 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 bones stick to my skin and to my flesh. I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21 Pity me, pity me, ye my friends, For the hand of God hath stricken against me.
“Have pity on me. Have pity on me, you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me.
22 Why do you pursue me as God? And with my flesh are not satisfied?
Why do you persecute me as God, 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?
“Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
24 With a pen of iron and lead — For ever in a rock they may be hewn.
That with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever!
25 That — I have known my Redeemer, The Living and the Last, For the dust he doth rise.
But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, he will stand upon the earth.
26 And after my skin hath compassed this [body], Then from my flesh I see God:
After my skin is destroyed, then I will see God in my flesh,
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.
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 But ye say, 'Why do we pursue after him?' And the root of the matter hath been found in me.
If you say, ‘How we will persecute him!’ because the root of the matter is found in me,
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.
be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishments of the sword, that you may know there is a judgement.”
