Iyov 19-21

Orthodox Jewish Bible

19 Then Iyov answered and said,

² How long will ye torment my nefesh, and crush me with words?

³ These ten times have ye reproached me; ye have no bushah that ye cause me astonishment.

⁴ And be it indeed that I have erred, mine meshugah (error) remaineth with myself.

⁵ If indeed ye will magnify yourselves above me, and use against me my cherpah (reproach, humiliation),

⁶ Have da’as now that Eloah hath put me in the wrong, and hath encompassed me with his matzud (net).

⁷ Behold, when I cry chamas, I am not heard; I cry for help, but there is no mishpat.

⁸ He hath fenced around my way that I cannot pass, and set choshech in my paths.

⁹ He hath stripped me of my kavod, and taken the ateret from my rosh.

¹⁰ He breaks me down on every side till I am gone, and mine tikveh hath He uprooted like an etz.

¹¹ He hath also kindled His wrath against me, and He counteth me unto Him as His tzar (enemy).

¹² His forces come together, and raise up their seige ramp against me, and encamp around my ohel.

¹³ He hath put achai (my brethren) far from me, and mine acquaintances are verily estranged from me.

¹⁴ My kerov (near and dear) have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.

¹⁵ They that dwell in mine bais, and my maidservants, count me for a zar; I am a nokhri in their sight.

¹⁶ I summoned avdi, and he gave me no answer; I entreated him with my mouth.

¹⁷ My ruach is repulsive to my isha, loathsome to bnei beten of mine.

¹⁸ Even avilim (little children) treat me with contempt; I appear, and they ridicule me.

¹⁹ All my metei sod (confidants) detest me, and they whom I loved are turned against me.

²⁰ My etzem cleaveth to my ohr (skin) and to my basar, and I am escaped only by the skin of my teeth.

²¹ Chanuni, chanuni, O ye my friends; for the yad Eloah hath touched me.

²² Why do ye persecute me like El, not satisfied with my basar?

²³ Oh that my words were but written! O that they were recorded in a sefer!

²⁴ That they were engraved with a pen of barzel and with oferet (lead) in the tzur forever!

²⁵ For Ani yadati Goeli chai (I know that my Redeemer liveth), and that he shall stand up at Acharon (at the Last) upon aphar (dust, the earth);

²⁶ And though after my ohr (skin) has been thus destroyed, yet from my basar I shall see Eloah;

²⁷ Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold and no other; my heart faints within me.

²⁸ But ye think, How we will persecute him, seeing the shoresh (root) of the matter is found in me?

²⁹ Be ye afraid of the cherev; for wrath bringeth the avonot (punishments) of the cherev, that ye may know there is a judgment.

20 Then answered Tzophar the Na’amati, and said,

² Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and ba’avur (because of [this]) I make haste.

³ I hear the musar that insults me, and the ruach of my understanding causeth me to answer.

⁴ Knowest thou not this of old, since adam was placed upon earth,

⁵ That the triumphing of the resha’im is short, and the simchat chanef (joy of the hypocrite) but for a moment?

⁶ Though his excellency mount up to Shomayim, and his rosh reach unto the clouds;

⁷ Yet he shall perish lanetzach (forever) like his own dung; they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?

⁸ He shall fly away as a chalom, and shall not be found; yea, he shall be chased away as a chezyon lailah.

⁹ The ayin also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his makom any more behold him.

¹⁰ His banim shall seek the favor of the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods.

¹¹ His atzmot are full of youthful vigor, which shall lie down with him in the aphar.

¹² Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his leshon;

¹³ Though he savor it, and forsake it not, but keep it still betoch (within) his mouth;

¹⁴ Yet his lechem in his stomach is turned sour; it is the venom of vipers within him.

¹⁵ He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again; El shall drive them out of his beten.

¹⁶ He shall suck the venom of asps; the viper’s leshon shall slay him.

¹⁷ He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of devash and khemah (butter, curds).

¹⁸ That which he labored for shall he give back, and shall not swallow it down; he shall not rejoice according to his chayil temurah (business profit).

¹⁹ Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the destitute; because he hath violently seized a bais which he built not;

²⁰ Surely he knew no quiet in his beten; he shall not save anything which he desired.

²¹ There shall none of his ochel be left; therefore his posterity will not endure.

²² In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in distress; kol yad of misery shall come upon him.

²³ When he is about to fill his beten, He shall cast the charon af (fury of His wrath) upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating.

²⁴ He shall flee from the weapon of barzel (iron), and the keshet of bronze shall strike him through.

²⁵ It is drawn, and cometh out of their body; yea, the glittering point cometh out of his gall; emim (terrors [of death]) are upon them.

²⁶ Kol choshech is reserved for his treasures; an eish not fanned shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his ohel.

²⁷ Shomayim shall reveal his iniquity; and eretz shall rise up against him.

²⁸ The increase of his bais shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in [G-d’s] Yom Af.

²⁹ This is the chelek of an adam rasha from Elohim, and the nachalah decreed unto him by El (G-d).

21 But Iyov answered and said,

² Hear diligently my speech, and let this be your tanechumot (consolations).

³ Bear with me that I may speak; and achar (after) that I have spoken, mock on.

⁴ As for me, is my complaint to adam (mortals)? Or why should my ruach not become impatient?

⁵ Look at me, and be astonished, and lay your yad upon your peh (mouth).

⁶ Even when I remember I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my basar.

⁷ Madu’a (why) do the resha’im live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?

⁸ Their zera is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes.

⁹ Their batim (houses) are shalom from pachad; neither is the shevet Eloah upon them.

¹⁰ Their shor (bull) breeds, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and doth not miscarry her calf.

¹¹ They send forth their little ones like a tzon, and their yeladim jump about.

¹² They sing to the tambourine and kinnor, and rejoice at the sound of the flute.

¹³ They spend their yamim in tov, and in a moment go down to Sheol.

¹⁴ Therefore they say unto El, Depart from us; for we desire not the da’as of Thy ways.

¹⁵ What is Shaddai, that we should serve Him? And what profit should we have, if we importune Him?

¹⁶ Lo, their tov is not in their yad; the etzah (counsel, scheme) of the resha’im is far from me.

¹⁷ How oft is the ner (light) of the resha’im put out! And how oft cometh their destruction upon them and He distributeth pains in His anger.

¹⁸ They are as straw before the ruach, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.

¹⁹ Eloah layeth up his iniquity for his banim; He payeth him back, and he shall know it.

²⁰ His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of Shaddai.

²¹ For what pleasure hath he in his bais after him, when the mispar (number) of his months is cut off?

²² Shall any teach El da’as, seeing He judgeth those that are on high?

²³ Zeh (this one) dieth in his full prosperity, being wholly at ease and secure.

²⁴ His troughs are full of cholov, and his atzmot are moistened with marrow.

²⁵ And another dieth in the marah (bitterness) of his nefesh, and never eateth with pleasure.

²⁶ They shall lie down alike in the aphar, and the worms shall cover them.

²⁷ Behold, I know your machshevot, and the stratagems which ye wrongfully imagine against me.

²⁸ For ye say, Where is the bais of the tyrant? And where are the ohel mishkenot of the resha’im?

²⁹ Have ye not asked them that travel the derech? And do ye not accept their testimony,

³⁰ That the rah is spared in the yom eid (day of calamity)? They shall be rescued in the yom avarot (day of wrath).

³¹ Who shall declare his derech to his face? And who shall repay him what he hath done?

³² Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the gadish (gravemound).

³³ The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and kol adam shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him.

³⁴ How then comfort ye me with hevel (empty nothings), seeing in your answers there is nothing left but falsehood?