Job 19

1 And Job answered and said,

Job replied,

2 How long will ye vex my soul, and crush me with words?

“How long will you go on tormenting me? How long will you go on crushing me with words?

3 These ten times have ye reproached me; ye are not ashamed to stupefy me.

Ten times already you have humiliated me. Aren't you ashamed for treating me so badly?

4 And be it [that] I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself.

Even if I did sin, that's my problem, and has nothing to do with you.

5 If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, and prove against me my reproach,

You think you're so much better than me, and you use my degradation against me.

6 Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath surrounded me with his net.

But you should realize that it's God who has wronged me, he has trapped me in his net.

7 Behold, I cry out of wrong, and I am not heard; I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.

Even though I cry for help, I get no answer; even though I shout my objections, I get no justice.

8 He hath hedged up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths.

God has walled me in so I can't escape; he has plunged my path into darkness.

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

He has stripped my honor from me; he has taken away my reputation.

10 He breaketh me down on every side, and I am gone; and my hope hath he torn up as a tree.

He tears me down from all sides until I am finished; he has destroyed my hope like a tree that is uprooted.

11 And he hath kindled his anger against me, and hath counted me unto him as one of his enemies.

His anger burns against me; he treats me as one of his enemies.

12 His troops have come together and cast up their way against me, and have encamped round about my tent.

God's troops assemble to attack me. They build ramparts against me. They encircle and besiege my home.

13 He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are quite estranged from me.

He has driven my brothers far away from me; all my former friends are estranged from me.

14 My kinsfolk have failed, and my known friends have forgotten me.

My relatives have abandoned me; my close friends have forgotten me.

15 The sojourners in my house and my maids count me as a stranger; I am an alien in their sight.

My house guests and my maidservants treat me as a stranger—to them I have become a foreigner.

16 I called my servant, and he answered not; I entreated him with my mouth.

I call my servant, but he doesn't reply. I have to beg him!

17 My breath is strange to my wife, and my entreaties to the children of my [mother's] womb.

I am repulsive to my wife, and I am loathsome to my own brothers.

18 Even young children despise me; I rise up, and they speak against me.

Even young children despise me; when I stand up they ridicule me.

19 All my intimate friends abhor me, and they whom I loved are turned against me.

All my closest friends despise me, and those I loved have turned on me.

20 My bones cleave to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.

I've been reduced to skin and bones and I survive by the skin of my teeth.

21 Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.

Have pity on me, my friends, have pity on me, because God has struck me down!

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

Why are you persecuting me like God does? Aren't you satisfied with getting your pound of flesh?

23 Oh would that my words were written! oh that they were inscribed in a book!

I wish my words could be written down, recorded in a book,

24 That with an iron style and lead they were graven in the rock for ever!

or engraved with an iron pen and molten lead in the rock forever.

25 And [as for] me, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and the Last, he shall stand upon the earth;

I know my Redeemer is alive, and that he shall finally take the stand for me on the earth.

26 And [if] after my skin this shall be destroyed, yet from out of my flesh shall I see God;

Even though my skin is destroyed, in my body I shall see God.

27 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another: — my reins are consumed within me.

I myself will see him—with my own eyes, and not those of someone else! The thought overcomes me!

28 If ye say, How shall we persecute him? when the root of the matter is found in me,

You say to yourselves, ‘How can we make him suffer so he can see he is the source of his problems?’

29 Be ye yourselves afraid of the sword! for the sword is fury against misdeeds, that ye may know there is a judgment.

You yourselves should fear being punished by God, for you know anger brings God's punishment that accompanies judgment.”