Job 19
1 But Job answered and said:
And Job made answer and said,
2 How long will ye vex my soul, And break me in pieces with words?
How long will you make my life bitter, crushing me with words?
3 These ten times have ye reviled me; Without shame do ye stun me!
Ten times now you have made sport of me; it gives you no sense of shame to do me wrong.
4 And be it, indeed, that I have erred, My error abideth with myself.
And, truly, if I have been in error, the effect of my error is only on myself.
5 Since, indeed, ye magnify yourselves against me, And plead against me my reproach,
If you make yourselves great against me, using my punishment as an argument against me,
6 Know then that it is God who hath brought me low; He hath encompassed me with his net.
Be certain that it is God who has done me wrong, and has taken me in his net.
7 Behold, I complain of wrong, but receive no answer; I cry aloud, but obtain no justice.
Truly, 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.
8 He hath fenced up my way, so that I cannot pass, And hath set darkness in my paths.
My way is walled up by him so that I may not go by: he has made my roads dark.
9 He hath stripped me of my glory, And taken the crown from my head.
He has put off my glory from me, and taken the crown from my head.
10 He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone! He hath torn up my hope like a tree.
I am broken down by him on every side, and I am gone; my hope is uprooted like a tree.
11 He kindleth his anger against me, And counteth me as his enemy.
His wrath is burning against me, and I am to him as one of his haters.
12 His troops advance together against me; They throw up for themselves a way to me, And encamp around my dwelling.
His armies come on together, they make their road high against me, and put up their tents round mine.
13 My brethren he hath put far from me, And my acquaintance are wholly estranged from me.
He has taken my brothers far away from me; they have seen my fate and have become strange to me.
14 My kinsfolk have forsaken me, And my bosom friends have forgotten me.
My relations and my near friends have given me up, and those living in my house have put me out of their minds.
15 The foreigners of my house, yea, my own maid-servants, regard me as a stranger; I am an alien in their eyes.
I am strange to my women-servants, and seem to them as one from another country.
16 I call my servant, and he maketh no answer; With my own mouth do I entreat him.
At my cry my servant gives me no answer, and I have to make a prayer to him.
17 My breath is become strange to my wife, And my prayers also to my own mother's sons.
My breath is strange to my wife, and I am disgusting to the offspring of my mother's body.
18 Even young children despise me; When I rise up, they speak against me.
Even young children have no respect for me; when I get up their backs are turned on me.
19 All my bosom friends abhor me, And they whom I loved are turned against me.
All the men of my circle keep away from me; and those dear to me are turned against me.
20 My bones cleave to my flesh and my skin, And I have scarcely escaped with the skin of my teeth.
My bones are joined to my skin, and I have got away with my flesh in my teeth.
21 Have pity upon me, O ye my friends! have pity upon me; For the hand of God hath smitten me!
Have pity on me, have pity on me, O my friends! for the hand of God is on me.
22 Why do ye persecute me like God, And are not satisfied with my flesh?
Why are you cruel to me, like God, for ever saying evil against me?
23 O that my words were now written! O that they were marked down in a scroll!
If only my words might be recorded! if they might be put in writing in a book!
24 That with an iron pen, and with lead, They were engraven upon the rock for ever!
And with an iron pen and lead be cut into the rock for ever!
25 Yet I know that my Vindicator liveth, And will hereafter stand up on the earth;
But 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;
26 And though with my skin this body be wasted away, Yet without my flesh shall I see God.
And ... without my flesh I will see God;
27 Yea, I shall see him my friend; My eyes shall behold him, and not another: For this, my soul panteth within me.
Whom I will see on my side, and not as one strange to me. My heart is broken with desire.
28 Since ye say, “How may we persecute him, And find grounds of accusation against him?”
If you say, How cruel we will be to him! because the root of sin is clearly in him:
29 Be ye afraid of the sword! For malice is a crime for the sword; That ye may know that judgment cometh.
Be 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.
