Job 19-21

American Standard Version

² How long will ye vex my soul,
And break me in pieces with words?
³ These ten times have ye reproached me:
Ye are not ashamed that ye deal hardly with me.
⁴ And be it indeed that I have erred,
Mine error remaineth with myself.
^5 [a]If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me,
And plead against me my reproach;
⁶ Know now that God hath ^[b]subverted me in my cause,
And hath compassed me with his net.

⁷ Behold, I ^[c]cry out of wrong, but I am not heard:
I cry for help, but there is no justice.
⁸ He hath walled up my way that I cannot pass,
And hath set darkness in my paths.
⁹ He hath stripped me of my glory,
And taken the crown from my head.
¹⁰ He hath broken me down on every side, and I am gone;
And my hope hath he plucked up like a tree.
¹¹ He hath also kindled his wrath against me,
And he counteth me unto him as one of his adversaries.
¹² His troops come on together,
And cast up their way against me,
And encamp round about my tent.

¹³ He hath put my brethren far from me,
And mine acquaintance are wholly estranged from me.
¹⁴ My kinsfolk have failed,
And my familiar friends have forgotten me.
¹⁵ They that ^[d]dwell in my house, and my maids, count me for a stranger:
I am an alien in their sight.
¹⁶ I call unto my servant, and he giveth me no answer,
Though I entreat him with my mouth.
¹⁷ My breath is strange to my wife,
And ^[e]my supplication to the children ^[f]of mine own mother.
¹⁸ Even young children despise me;
If I arise, they speak against me.
¹⁹ All ^[g]my familiar friends abhor me,
And they whom I loved are turned against me.
²⁰ My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh,
And I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.
²¹ Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends;
For the hand of God hath touched me.
²² Why do ye persecute me as God,
And are not satisfied with my flesh?

²³ Oh that my words were now written!
Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
²⁴ That with an iron pen and lead
They were graven in the rock for ever!
^25 [h]But as for me I know that my ^[i]Redeemer liveth,
And at last he will stand up upon the ^[j]earth:
^26 [k]And after my skin, even this body, is destroyed,
Then without my flesh shall I see God;
²⁷ Whom I, even I, shall see, ^[l]on my side,
And mine eyes shall behold, and not as a stranger.
My ^[m]heart is consumed within me.
²⁸ If ye say, How we will persecute him!
And that the root of the matter is found in me;
²⁹ Be ye afraid of the sword:
For ^[n]wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword,
That ye may know there is a judgment.

² Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me,
^[o]Even by reason of my haste that is in me.
³ I have heard the reproof which putteth me to shame;
^[p]And the spirit of my understanding answereth me.
⁴ Knowest thou not this of old time,
Since man was placed upon earth,
⁵ That the triumphing of the wicked is short,
And the joy of the godless but for a moment?
⁶ Though his height mount up to the heavens,
And his head reach unto the clouds;
⁷ Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung:
They that have seen him shall say, Where is he?
⁸ He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found:
Yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.
⁹ The eye which saw him shall see him no more;
Neither shall his place any more behold him.
^10 [q]His children shall seek the favor of the poor,
And his hands shall give back his wealth.
¹¹ His bones are full of his youth,
But it shall lie down with him in the dust.

¹² Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth,
Though he hide it under his tongue,
¹³ Though he spare it, and will not let it go,
But keep it still within his mouth;
¹⁴ Yet his food in his bowels is turned,
It is the gall of asps within him.
¹⁵ He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again;
God will cast them out of his belly.
¹⁶ He shall suck the poison of asps:
The viper’s tongue shall slay him.
¹⁷ He shall not look upon the rivers,
The flowing streams of honey and butter.
¹⁸ That which he labored for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down;
According to the substance ^[r]that he hath gotten, he shall not rejoice.
¹⁹ For he hath oppressed and forsaken the poor;
He hath violently taken away a house, ^[s]and he shall not build it up.

²⁰ Because he knew no quietness ^[t]within him,
He shall not save aught of that wherein he delighteth.
²¹ There was nothing left that he devoured not;
Therefore his prosperity shall not endure.
²² In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits:
The hand of every one that is in misery shall come upon him.
^23 [u]When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fierceness of his wrath upon him,
And will rain it upon him ^[v]while he is eating.
²⁴ He shall flee from the iron weapon,
And the bow of brass shall strike him through.
²⁵ He draweth it forth, and it cometh out of his body;
Yea, the glittering point cometh out of his gall:
Terrors are upon him.
²⁶ All darkness is laid up for his treasures:
A fire not blown by man shall devour him;
^[w]It shall consume that which is left in his tent.
²⁷ The heavens shall reveal his iniquity,
And the earth shall rise up against him.
²⁸ The increase of his house shall depart;
His goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.
²⁹ This is the portion of a wicked man from God,
And the heritage appointed unto him by God.

² Hear diligently my speech;
And let this be your consolations.
³ Suffer me, and I also will speak;
And after that I have spoken, ^[x]mock on.
⁴ As for me, is my complaint ^[y]to man?
And why should I not be impatient?
^5 [z]Mark me, and be astonished,
And lay your hand upon your mouth.
⁶ Even when I remember I am troubled,
And horror taketh hold on my flesh.
⁷ Wherefore do the wicked live,
Become old, yea, wax mighty in power?
⁸ Their seed is established with them in their sight,
And their offspring before their eyes.
⁹ Their houses are ^[aa]safe from fear,
Neither is the rod of God upon them.
¹⁰ Their bull gendereth, and faileth not;
Their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.
¹¹ They send forth their little ones like a flock,
And their children dance.
¹² They ^[ab]sing to the timbrel and harp,
And rejoice at the sound of the pipe.
¹³ They spend their days in prosperity,
And in a moment they go down to Sheol.
¹⁴ And they say unto God, Depart from us;
For we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
¹⁵ What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
And what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?
^16 [ac]Lo, their prosperity is not in their hand:
The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

^17 [ad]How oft is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out?
That their calamity cometh upon them?
That God distributeth sorrows in his anger?
¹⁸ That they are as stubble before the wind,
And as chaff that the storm carrieth away?
^19 [ae]Ye say, God layeth up his iniquity for his children.
Let him recompense it unto himself, that he may know it:
²⁰ Let his own eyes see his destruction,
And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
²¹ For what careth he for his house after him,
When the number of his months is cut off?
²² Shall any teach God knowledge,
Seeing he judgeth those that are high?
²³ One dieth in his full strength,
Being wholly at ease and quiet:
²⁴ His pails are full of milk,
And the marrow of his bones is moistened.
²⁵ And another dieth in bitterness of soul,
And never tasteth of good.
²⁶ They lie down alike in the dust,
And the worm covereth them.

²⁷ Behold, I know your thoughts,
And the devices wherewith ye would wrong me.
²⁸ For ye say, Where is the house of the prince?
And where is the tent wherein the wicked dwelt?
²⁹ Have ye not asked wayfaring men?
And do ye not know their evidences,
³⁰ That the evil man is ^[af]reserved to the day of calamity?
That they are ^[ag]led forth to the day of wrath?
³¹ Who shall declare his way to his face?
And who shall repay him what he hath done?
^32 [ah]Yet shall he be borne to the grave,
And men shall keep watch over the tomb.
³³ The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him,
And all men shall draw after him,
As there were innumerable before him.
³⁴ How then comfort ye me ^[ai]in vain,
Seeing in your answers there remaineth only ^[aj]falsehood?