Job 19:13-29

English Standard Version

¹³ “He has put my ^(A)brothers far from me,
    and ^(B)those who knew me are wholly estranged from me.
¹⁴ My relatives ^(C)have failed me,
    my close ^(D)friends have forgotten me.
¹⁵ The guests ^(E)in my house and my maidservants count me as a stranger;
    I have become a foreigner in their eyes.
¹⁶ I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer;
    I must plead with him with my mouth for mercy.
¹⁷ My breath is strange to my ^(F)wife,
    and I am a stench to the children of ^(G)my own mother.
¹⁸ Even young ^(H)children despise me;
    when I rise they talk against me.
¹⁹ All my ^(I)intimate friends abhor me,
    and those whom I loved have turned against me.
²⁰ My ^(J)bones stick to my skin and to my flesh,
    and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
²¹ Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O you my friends,
    for the hand of God has ^(K)touched me!
²² Why do you, like God, ^(L)pursue me?
    Why are you not satisfied with my flesh?

²³ “Oh that my words were written!
    Oh that they were ^(M)inscribed in a book!
²⁴ Oh that with an iron ^(N)pen and lead
    they were engraved in the rock forever!
²⁵ For I ^(O)know that my ^(P)Redeemer lives,
    and at the last he will stand upon the ^(Q)earth.^[a]
26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
    yet in^[b] my flesh I shall ^(R)see God,
²⁷ whom I shall see for myself,
    and my eyes shall behold, and not ^(S)another.
    My heart ^(T)faints within me!
²⁸ If you say, ‘How we will ^(U)pursue him!’
    and, ‘The root of the matter is found in him,’^[c]
29 be afraid of the sword,
    for wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
    that you may know there is ^(V)a judgment.”