Job 19

1 Job replied,

Then Job answered and said,

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

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

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

Ye speak against me; ye do not feel for me, but bear hard upon me.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

He has torn me around about, and I am gone: and he has cut off my hope like a tree.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[As for] my household, and my maid-servants, I was a stranger before them.

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

I called my servant, and he hearkened not; and my mouth intreated [him].

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

And I besought my wife, and earnestly intreated the sons of my concubines.

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

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

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

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

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

My flesh is corrupt under my skin, and my bones are held in [my] teeth.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

26 Even though my skin is destroyed, in my body I shall 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 I myself will see him—with my own eyes, and not those of someone else! The thought overcomes me!

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

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

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

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