Job 19
Contemporary English Version
Job's Reply to Bildad
How Long Will You Torture Me?
19 Job said:
2 How long will you torture me
with your words?
3 Isn't ten times enough
for you to accuse me?
Aren't you ashamed?
4 Even if I have sinned,
you haven't been harmed.
5 You boast of your goodness,
claiming I am suffering
because I am guilty.
6 But God is the one at fault
for finding fault with me.
7 Though I pray to be rescued
from this torment,
no whisper of justice
answers me.
8 God has me trapped
with a wall of darkness
9 and stripped of respect.
10 God rips me apart,
uproots my hopes,
11 and attacks with fierce anger,
as though I were his enemy.
12 His entire army advances,
then surrounds my tent.
I Am Forgotten
* 13 God has turned relatives
and friends against me,
14 and I am forgotten.
15 My guests and my servants
consider me a stranger,
16 and when I call my servants,
they pay no attention.
17 My breath disgusts my wife;
everyone in my family
turns away.
18 Young children can't stand me,
and when I come near,
they make fun.
19 (A) My best friends and loved ones
have turned from me.
20 I am skin and bones—
just barely alive.
21 My friends, I beg you for pity!
God has made me his target.
22 Hasn't he already done enough?
Why do you join the attack?
23 I wish that my words
could be written down
24 or chiseled into rock.
25 I know that my Protector[a] lives,
and at the end
he will stand on this earth.
26 My flesh may be destroyed,
yet from this body
I will see God.[b]
27 Yes, I will see him for myself,
and I long for that moment.
28 My friends, you think up ways
to blame and torment me, saying
I brought it on myself.
29 But watch out for the judgment,
when God will punish you!
Job 19
New International Version
Job
19 Then Job replied:
2 “How long will you torment(A) me
and crush(B) me with words?
3 Ten times(C) now you have reproached(D) me;
shamelessly you attack me.
4 If it is true that I have gone astray,
my error(E) remains my concern alone.
5 If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me(F)
and use my humiliation against me,
6 then know that God has wronged me(G)
and drawn his net(H) around me.(I)
7 “Though I cry, ‘Violence!’ I get no response;(J)
though I call for help,(K) there is no justice.(L)
8 He has blocked my way so I cannot pass;(M)
he has shrouded my paths in darkness.(N)
9 He has stripped(O) me of my honor(P)
and removed the crown from my head.(Q)
10 He tears me down(R) on every side till I am gone;
he uproots my hope(S) like a tree.(T)
11 His anger(U) burns against me;
he counts me among his enemies.(V)
12 His troops advance in force;(W)
they build a siege ramp(X) against me
and encamp around my tent.(Y)
13 “He has alienated my family(Z) from me;
my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.(AA)
14 My relatives have gone away;
my closest friends(AB) have forgotten me.
15 My guests(AC) and my female servants(AD) count me a foreigner;
they look on me as on a stranger.
16 I summon my servant, but he does not answer,
though I beg him with my own mouth.
17 My breath is offensive to my wife;
I am loathsome(AE) to my own family.
18 Even the little boys(AF) scorn me;
when I appear, they ridicule me.(AG)
19 All my intimate friends(AH) detest me;(AI)
those I love have turned against me.(AJ)
20 I am nothing but skin and bones;(AK)
I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.[a]
21 “Have pity on me, my friends,(AL) have pity,
for the hand of God has struck(AM) me.
22 Why do you pursue(AN) me as God does?(AO)
Will you never get enough of my flesh?(AP)
23 “Oh, that my words were recorded,
that they were written on a scroll,(AQ)
24 that they were inscribed with an iron tool(AR) on[b] lead,
or engraved in rock forever!(AS)
25 I know that my redeemer[c](AT) lives,(AU)
and that in the end he will stand on the earth.[d]
26 And after my skin has been destroyed,
yet[e] in[f] my flesh I will see God;(AV)
27 I myself will see him
with my own eyes(AW)—I, and not another.
How my heart yearns(AX) within me!
Footnotes
- Job 19:20 Or only by my gums
- Job 19:24 Or and
- Job 19:25 Or vindicator
- Job 19:25 Or on my grave
- Job 19:26 Or And after I awake, / though this body has been destroyed, / then
- Job 19:26 Or destroyed, / apart from
- Job 19:28 Many Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint and Vulgate; most Hebrew manuscripts me
- Job 19:29 Or sword, / that you may come to know the Almighty
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