Job 19
1 Job replied,
Then responded Job, 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 grieve my soul? or crush me with words?
3 Ten times already you have humiliated me. Aren't you ashamed for treating me so badly?
These ten times, have ye reviled me, Shameless ye wrong me.
4 Even if I did sin, that's my problem, and has nothing to do with you.
And even if indeed I have erred, with myself lodgeth mine error.
5 You think you're so much better than me, and you use my degradation against me.
If indeed, against me, ye must needs magnify yourselves, and plead, against me, my reproach.
6 But you should realize that it's God who has wronged me, he has trapped me in his net.
Know, then, that, God, hath overthrown me, and, within his net, enclosed me.
7 Even though I cry for help, I get no answer; even though I shout my objections, I get no justice.
Lo! I cry—out: Violence! but receive no answer, I cry aloud, but there is no vindication;
8 God has walled me in so I can't escape; he has plunged my path into darkness.
My way, hath he walled up, that I cannot pass, and, upon my paths, hath he made darkness rest;
9 He has stripped my honor from me; he has taken away my reputation.
My glory—from off me, hath he stripped, and hath removed the crown of 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 hath ruined me on every side, and I am gone, and he hath taken away—like a tree—my hope;
11 His anger burns against me; he treats me as one of his enemies.
Yea he hath kindled against me his anger, and accounted me towards him like unto his adversaries;
12 God's troops assemble to attack me. They build ramparts against me. They encircle and besiege my home.
Together, enter his troops and have cast up, against me, their mound, and have encamped all around my tent;
13 He has driven my brothers far away from me; all my former friends are estranged from me.
My Brethren—from beside me, hath he moved far away, and, mine acquaintance, are wholly estranged from me;
14 My relatives have abandoned me; my close friends have forgotten me.
Failed me, have my near of kin, and, mine intimate acquaintances, have forgotten me;
15 My house guests and my maidservants treat me as a stranger—to them I have become a foreigner.
Ye guests of my house and my maidens, A stranger, have ye accounted me, An alien, have I become in their eyes;
16 I call my servant, but he doesn't reply. I have to beg him!
To mine own servant, I called, and he would not answer, With mine own mouth, I kept entreating him;
17 I am repulsive to my wife, and I am loathsome to my own brothers.
My breath, is strange to my wife, and I am loathsome to the sons of my own mother;
18 Even young children despise me; when I stand up they ridicule me.
Even young children, despise me, I rise up, and they speak against me;
19 All my closest friends despise me, and those I loved have turned on me.
All the men of mine intimate circle abhor me, and, these whom I loved, have turned against me;
20 I've been reduced to skin and bones and I survive by the skin of my teeth.
Unto my skin and unto my flesh, have my bones cleaved, and I have escaped with the akin of my teeth.
21 Have pity on me, my friends, have pity on me, because God has struck me down!
Pity me! pity me! ye, my friends, for, the hand of GOD, hath stricken me!
22 Why are you persecuting me like God does? Aren't you satisfied with getting your pound of flesh?
Wherefore should ye persecute me as GOD? and, with my flesh, should not he satisfied?
23 I wish my words could be written down, recorded in a book,
Oh, then, that my words, could be written, Oh that, in a record, they could be inscribed:
24 or engraved with an iron pen and molten lead in the rock forever.
That, with a stylus of iron and [with] lead, for all time—in the rock, they could be graven!
25 I know my Redeemer is alive, and that he shall finally take the stand for me on the earth.
But, I, know that, my redeemer, liveth, and, as the Last over [my] dust, will he arise;
26 Even though my skin is destroyed, in my body I shall see God.
And, though, after my skin is struck off, this [followeth], yet, apart from my flesh, shall I see GOD:
27 I myself will see him—with my own eyes, and not those of someone else! The thought overcomes me!
Whom, I myself, shall see, on my side, and, mine own eyes, [shall] have looked upon, and not those of a stranger. Exhausted are my deepest desires 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?’
Surely ye should say—Why should we persecute him? seeing, the root of the matter, is found in me.
29 You yourselves should fear being punished by God, for you know anger brings God's punishment that accompanies judgment.”
Be ye afraid—on your part—of the face of the sword, because, wrath, [bringeth] the punishments of the sword, to the end ye may know the Almighty.
