Job 18:14-20:6

English Standard Version

¹⁴He is torn from the tent in which he trusted
    and is brought to ^(A)the king of terrors.
¹⁵In his tent dwells that which is none of his;
    ^(B)sulfur is scattered over his habitation.
¹⁶His ^(C)roots dry up beneath,
    and his branches ^(D)wither above.
¹⁷His ^(E)memory perishes from the earth,
    and he has no name in the street.
¹⁸^(F)He is thrust from light into darkness,
    and driven out of the world.
¹⁹He has no ^(G)posterity or progeny among his people,
    and no survivor where he used to live.
²⁰They of the west are appalled at his ^(H)day,
    and ^(I)horror seizes them of the east.
²¹Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous,
    such is the place of him who ^(J)knows not God.”

Job Replies: My Redeemer Lives

19 Then Job answered and said:

²“How long will you torment me
    and break me in pieces with words?
³These ^(K)ten times you have cast reproach upon me;
    are you not ashamed to wrong me?
⁴And even if it be true that I have erred,
    my error remains with myself.
⁵If indeed you ^(L)magnify yourselves against me
    and make my disgrace an argument against me,
⁶know then that God has ^(M)put me in the wrong
    and closed his net about me.
⁷Behold, I ^(N)cry out, ‘Violence!’ but I am not answered;
    I call for help, but there is no justice.
⁸He has ^(O)walled up my way, so that I cannot pass,
    and he has set darkness upon my paths.
⁹He has ^(P)stripped from me my glory
    and taken the ^(Q)crown from my head.
¹⁰He breaks me down on every side, and I ^(R)am gone,
    and my hope has he pulled up like a tree.
¹¹He has kindled his wrath against me
    and ^(S)counts me as his adversary.
¹²His ^(T)troops come on together;
    they have ^(U)cast up their siege ramp^[a] against me
    and encamp around my tent.

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

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

Zophar Speaks: The Wicked Will Suffer

20 Then ^(AR)Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:

²“Therefore my ^(AS)thoughts answer me,
    because of my haste within me.
³I hear censure that insults me,
    and out of my understanding a spirit answers me.
⁴Do you not know this from of old,
    ^(AT)since man was placed on earth,
⁵^(AU)that the exulting of the wicked is short,
    and the joy of the godless but for a moment?
⁶^(AV)Though his height mount up to the heavens,
    and his head reach to the clouds,