Job 19-20

English Standard Version

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

¹³ “He has put my ^(L)brothers far from me,
    and ^(M)those who knew me are wholly estranged from me.
¹⁴ My relatives ^(N)have failed me,
    my close ^(O)friends have forgotten me.
¹⁵ The guests ^(P)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 ^(Q)wife,
    and I am a stench to the children of ^(R)my own mother.
¹⁸ Even young ^(S)children despise me;
    when I rise they talk against me.
¹⁹ All my ^(T)intimate friends abhor me,
    and those whom I loved have turned against me.
²⁰ My ^(U)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 ^(V)touched me!
²² Why do you, like God, ^(W)pursue me?
    Why are you not satisfied with my flesh?

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

² “Therefore my ^(AI)thoughts answer me,
    because of my haste within me.
³ I hear censure that insults me,
    and out of my understanding a spirit answers me.
⁴ Do you not know this from of old,
    ^(AJ)since man was placed on earth,
^5 (AK)that the exulting of the wicked is short,
    and the joy of the godless but for a moment?
^6 (AL)Though his height mount up to the heavens,
    and his head reach to the clouds,
⁷ he will perish forever like his own ^(AM)dung;
    those who have seen him will say, ^(AN)‘Where is he?’
⁸ He will fly away like ^(AO)a dream and not be found;
    he will be chased away like a vision of the night.
^9 (AP)The eye that saw him will see him no more,
    nor will his place any more behold him.
¹⁰ His children will seek the favor of the poor,
    and his hands will ^(AQ)give back his wealth.
¹¹ His bones are full of his ^(AR)youthful vigor,
    but it will lie ^(AS)down with him in the dust.

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

²⁰ “Because he ^(BB)knew no ^(BC)contentment in his belly,
    ^(BD)he will not let anything in which he delights escape him.
²¹ There was nothing left after he had eaten;
    therefore his prosperity will not endure.
²² In the fullness of his sufficiency he will be in distress;
    the hand of everyone in misery will come against him.
²³ To fill his belly to the full,
    God^[e] will send his burning anger against him
    and rain it upon him ^(BE)into his body.
^24 (BF)He will flee from an iron weapon;
    ^(BG)a bronze arrow will strike ^(BH)him through.
²⁵ It ^(BI)is drawn forth and comes out of his body;
    ^(BJ)the glittering point comes out of his ^(BK)gallbladder;
    ^(BL)terrors come upon him.
²⁶ Utter darkness is laid up for his treasures;
    ^(BM)a fire not fanned will devour him;
    what is left in his tent will be consumed.
^27 (BN)The heavens will reveal his iniquity,
    and the earth will rise up against him.
²⁸ The possessions of his house will be carried away,
    dragged off in the day of God's^[f] wrath.
^29 (BO)This is the wicked man's portion from God,
    ^(BP)the heritage decreed for him by God.”