Job 17-20 (English Standard Version)

Job 17

Job Continues: Where Then Is My Hope?

 ¹"My spirit is broken; my days are^(A) extinct;
   ^(B) the graveyard is ready for me.
²Surely there are mockers about me,
   and my eye dwells on their^(C) provocation.

 ³"Lay down a pledge for me with yourself;
   who is there who will put up^(D) security for me?
⁴Since you have closed their hearts to understanding,
   therefore you will not let them triumph.
⁵He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property—
   the^(E) eyes of his children will fail.

 ⁶"He has made me^(F) a byword of the peoples,
   and I am one before whom men spit.
⁷My^(G) eye has grown dim from vexation,
   and all my members are like^(H) a shadow.
⁸The upright are^(I) appalled at this,
   and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless.
⁹Yet the righteous holds to his way,
   and he who has^(J) clean hands grows stronger and stronger.
¹⁰But you,^(K) come on again, all of you,
   and I shall not find a wise man among you.
¹¹My^(L) days are past; my plans are broken off,
   the desires of my heart.
¹²They^(M) make night into day:
   'The light,' they say, 'is near to the darkness.'^[a]
13If I hope for^(N) Sheol as^(O) my house,
   if I make my bed in darkness,
¹⁴if I say to the pit, 'You are my father,'
   and to the worm, 'My mother,' or 'My sister,'
¹⁵where then is my hope?
   Who will see my hope?
¹⁶Will it go down to the bars of^(P) Sheol?
   Shall we^(Q) descend together^(R) into the dust?"

Job 18

Bildad Speaks: God Punishes the Wicked

 ¹Then^(S) Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
 ²"How long will you^(T) hunt for words?
   Consider, and then we will speak.
³Why are we counted as^(U) cattle?
   Why are we stupid in your sight?
⁴You who^(V) tear yourself in your anger,
   shall the earth be forsaken for you,
   or^(W) the rock be removed out of its place?

 ⁵"Indeed,^(X) the light of the wicked is put out,
   and the flame of his fire does not shine.
⁶The light is^(Y) dark in his tent,
   and his lamp above him is put out.
⁷His strong steps are shortened,
   and his^(Z) own schemes throw him down.
⁸For he is cast into a net by his own feet,
   and he walks on its mesh.
^9(AA) A trap seizes him by the heel;
   a snare lays hold of him.
¹⁰A rope is hidden for him in the ground,
   a trap for him in the path.
^11(AB) Terrors frighten him on every side,
   and chase him at his heels.
¹²His strength is famished,
   and calamity is^(AC) ready for his stumbling.
¹³It consumes the parts of his skin;
   ^(AD) the firstborn of death consumes his limbs.
¹⁴He is torn from the tent in which he trusted
   and is brought to^(AE) the king of terrors.
¹⁵In his tent dwells that which is none of his;
   ^(AF) sulfur is scattered over his habitation.
¹⁶His^(AG) roots dry up beneath,
   and his branches^(AH) wither above.
¹⁷His^(AI) memory perishes from the earth,
   and he has no name in the street.
^18(AJ) He is thrust from light into darkness,
   and driven out of the world.
¹⁹He has no^(AK) posterity or progeny among his people,
   and no survivor where he used to live.
²⁰They of the west are appalled at his^(AL) day,
   and^(AM) horror seizes them of the east.
²¹Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous,
   such is the place of him who^(AN) knows not God."

Job 19

Job Replies: My Redeemer Lives

 ¹Then Job answered and said:
 ²"How long will you torment me
   and break me in pieces with words?
³These^(AO) 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^(AP) magnify yourselves against me
   and make my disgrace an argument against me,
⁶know then that God has^(AQ) put me in the wrong
   and closed his net about me.
⁷Behold, I^(AR) cry out, 'Violence!' but I am not answered;
   I call for help, but there is no justice.
⁸He has^(AS) walled up my way, so that I cannot pass,
   and he has set darkness upon my paths.
⁹He has^(AT) stripped from me my glory
   and taken the^(AU) crown from my head.
¹⁰He breaks me down on every side, and I^(AV) am gone,
   and my hope has he pulled up like a tree.
¹¹He has kindled his wrath against me
   and^(AW) counts me as his adversary.
¹²His^(AX) troops come on together;
   they have^(AY) cast up their siege ramp^[b] against me
   and encamp around my tent.

 ¹³"He has put my^(AZ) brothers far from me,
   and^(BA) those who knew me are wholly estranged from me.
¹⁴My relatives^(BB) have failed me,
   my close^(BC) friends have forgotten me.
¹⁵The guests^(BD) 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^(BE) wife,
   and I am a stench to the children of^(BF) my own mother.
¹⁸Even young^(BG) children despise me;
   when I rise they talk against me.
¹⁹All my^(BH) intimate friends abhor me,
   and those whom I loved have turned against me.
²⁰My^(BI) 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^(BJ) touched me!
²²Why do you, like God,^(BK) pursue me?
   Why are you not satisfied with my flesh?

 ²³"Oh that my words were written!
   Oh that they were^(BL) inscribed in a book!
²⁴Oh that with an iron^(BM) pen and lead
   they were engraved in the rock forever!
²⁵For I^(BN) know that my^(BO) Redeemer lives,
   and at the last he will stand upon the^(BP) earth.^[c]
26And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
   yet in^[d] my flesh I shall^(BQ) see God,
²⁷whom I shall see for myself,
   and my eyes shall behold, and not^(BR) another.
   My heart^(BS) faints within me!
²⁸If you say, 'How we will^(BT) pursue him!'
   and, 'The root of the matter is found in him,'
²⁹be afraid of the sword,
   for wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
   that you may know there is^(BU) a judgment."

Job 20

Zophar Speaks: The Wicked Will Suffer

 ¹Then^(BV) Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:
 ²"Therefore my^(BW) 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,
   ^(BX) since man was placed on earth,
^5(BY) that the exulting of the wicked is short,
   and the joy of the godless but for a moment?
^6(BZ) Though his height mount up to the heavens,
   and his head reach to the clouds,
⁷he will perish forever like his own^(CA) dung;
   those who have seen him will say,^(CB) 'Where is he?'
⁸He will fly away like^(CC) a dream and not be found;
   he will be chased away like a vision of the night.
^9(CD) The eye that saw him will see him no more,
   nor will his place any more behold him.
¹⁰His children will seek the favor of the poor,
   and his hands will^(CE) give back his wealth.
¹¹His bones are full of his^(CF) youthful vigor,
   but it will lie^(CG) down with him in the dust.

 ¹²"Though evil is sweet in his mouth,
   though he hides it^(CH) under his tongue,
¹³though he is loath to let it go
   and holds it in his mouth,
¹⁴yet his food is turned in his stomach;
   it is the venom of^(CI) cobras within him.
¹⁵He swallows down riches and vomits them up again;
   God casts them out of his belly.
¹⁶He will suck the poison of cobras;
   ^(CJ) the tongue of a viper will kill him.
¹⁷He will not look upon^(CK) the rivers,
   the streams flowing with^(CL) honey and^(CM) curds.
¹⁸He will^(CN) give back the fruit of his toil
   and will not^(CO) swallow it down;
from the profit of his trading
   he will get no enjoyment.
¹⁹For he has crushed and abandoned the poor;
   he has seized a house that he did not build.

 ²⁰"Because he^(CP) knew no^(CQ) contentment in his belly,
   ^(CR) he will not let anything in which he delights escape him.
²¹There was nothing left after he had eaten;
   therefore his prosperity will not endure.
²²In the fullness of his sufficiency he will be in distress;
   the hand of everyone in misery will come against him.
²³To fill his belly to the full,
   God^[e] will send his burning anger against him
   and rain it upon him^(CS) into his body.
^24(CT) He will flee from an iron weapon;
   ^(CU) a bronze arrow will strike^(CV) him through.
²⁵It^(CW) is drawn forth and comes out of his body;
   ^(CX) the glittering point comes out of his^(CY) gallbladder;
   ^(CZ) terrors come upon him.
²⁶Utter darkness is laid up for his treasures;
   ^(DA) a fire not fanned will devour him;
   what is left in his tent will be consumed.
^27(DB) The heavens will reveal his iniquity,
   and the earth will rise up against him.
²⁸The possessions of his house will be carried away,
   dragged off in the day of God’s^[f] wrath.
^29(DC) This is the wicked man’s portion from God,
   the heritage decreed for him by God."