Job 19

¹And Job made answer and said,

²How long will you make my life bitter, crushing me with words?

³Ten times now you have made sport of me; it gives you no sense of shame to do me wrong.

⁴And, truly, if I have been in error, the effect of my error is only on myself.

⁵If you make yourselves great against me, using my punishment as an argument against me,

⁶Be certain that it is God who has done me wrong, and has taken me in his net.

⁷Truly, I make an outcry against the violent man, but there is no answer: I give a cry for help, but no one takes up my cause.

⁸My way is walled up by him so that I may not go by: he has made my roads dark.

⁹He has put off my glory from me, and taken the crown from my head.

¹⁰I am broken down by him on every side, and I am gone; my hope is uprooted like a tree.

¹¹His wrath is burning against me, and I am to him as one of his haters.

¹²His armies come on together, they make their road high against me, and put up their tents round mine.

¹³He has taken my brothers far away from me; they have seen my fate and have become strange to me.

¹⁴My relations and my near friends have given me up, and those living in my house have put me out of their minds.

¹⁵I am strange to my women-servants, and seem to them as one from another country.

¹⁶At my cry my servant gives me no answer, and I have to make a prayer to him.

¹⁷My breath is strange to my wife, and I am disgusting to the offspring of my mother's body.

¹⁸Even young children have no respect for me; when I get up their backs are turned on me.

¹⁹All the men of my circle keep away from me; and those dear to me are turned against me.

²⁰My bones are joined to my skin, and I have got away with my flesh in my teeth.

²¹Have pity on me, have pity on me, O my friends! for the hand of God is on me.

²²Why are you cruel to me, like God, for ever saying evil against me?

²³If only my words might be recorded! if they might be put in writing in a book!

²⁴And with an iron pen and lead be cut into the rock for ever!

²⁵But I am certain that he who will take up my cause is living, and that in time to come he will take his place on the dust;

²⁶And ... without my flesh I will see God;

²⁷Whom I will see on my side, and not as one strange to me. My heart is broken with desire.

²⁸If you say, How cruel we will be to him! because the root of sin is clearly in him:

²⁹Be in fear of the sword, for the sword is the punishment for such things, so that you may be certain that there is a judge.

Job 19

¹Then Job answered,

²"How long will you torment me, and crush me with words?

³You have reproached me ten times. You aren't ashamed that you attack me.

⁴If it is true that I have erred, my error remains with myself.

⁵If indeed you will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach;

⁶know now that God has subverted me, and has surrounded me with his net.

⁷"Behold, I cry out 'Injustice!' but there is no justice.

⁸He has walled up my way so that I can't pass, and has set darkness in my paths.

⁹He has stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.

¹⁰He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone. My hope he has plucked up like a tree.

¹¹He has also kindled his wrath against me. He counts me among his adversaries.

¹²His troops come on together, build a siege ramp against me, and encamp around my tent.

¹³"He has put my brothers far from me. My acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.

¹⁴My relatives have gone away. My familiar friends have forgotten me.

¹⁵Those who dwell in my house, and my maids, count me for a stranger. I am a foreigner in their sight.

¹⁶I call to my servant, and he gives me no answer. I beg him with my mouth.

¹⁷My breath is offensive to my wife. I am loathsome to the children of my own mother.

¹⁸Even young children despise me. If I arise, they speak against me.

¹⁹All my familiar friends abhor me. They whom I loved have turned against me.

²⁰My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh. I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

²¹"Have pity on me, have pity on me, you my friends; for the hand of God has touched me.

²²Why do you persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?

²³"Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book!

²⁴That with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever!

²⁵But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, he will stand upon the earth.

²⁶After my skin is destroyed, then in my flesh shall I see God,

²⁷Whom I, even I, shall see on my side. My eyes shall see, and not as a stranger. "My heart is consumed within me.

²⁸If you say, 'How we will persecute him!' because the root of the matter is found in me,

²⁹be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishments of the sword, that you may know there is a judgment."