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Job 19
International Standard Version

Job Responds to Bildad

19 In response, Job said:

2 “How long do you intend to keep torturing me
    and trying to break me by what you’re saying?
3 Ten times you’ve tried to humiliate me!
    You’re not ashamed to wrong me!
4 Even if it’s true that I’ve erred,
    my error only affects me.
5 If you really intend to vaunt yourselves over me,
    and make my problems the basis of your case against me,
6 then at least you must know that God has accused me of wrong,
    and trapped me with his net.”

Job Accuses God of Being Angry

7 “Although I cried out ‘Violence!’
    I received no answer;
I cried for help,
    but there was no justice.
8 He blocked my path,
    so I cannot pass;
        and he turned out the lights on my pathways.

9 “He has stripped me of my honor;
    he has stolen the crown off my head!
10 He is breaking me down on every side,
    and now it’s too late for me;[a]
        he has uprooted my hopes like a tree.
11 His anger burns against me;
    he regards me as his adversary.
12 His troops march[b] in a column[c] against me,
    erecting their siege ramps against me;
        they surround my tent.”

Job’s Family and Friends Abandoned Him

13 “My brothers are alienated from me;
    my acquaintances are estranged;
14 my relatives have failed me;
    and my friends[d] have abandoned me.
15 Those who live in my house—
    and my maidservants, too!—
treat me like a stranger;
    they think I’m a foreigner.

16 “I call to my servant,
    but he doesn’t respond,
        even though I beg to him earnestly.[e]
17 My wife says my breath stinks;
    even my children say I smell bad!
18 Even little children hate me;
    when I get up, they mock me.
19 My closest friends[f] detest me;
    even the ones I love have turned against me.
20 I’m a pile of skin and bones;
    I have barely escaped by the skin of my teeth.”

Job Pleads with His Friends

21 “Be gracious to me, be gracious to me, my friends,
    because God’s hand has struck me.
22 Why are you chasing me, as God has been doing?
    Aren’t you satisfied that I’m sick?[g]
23 If only my words were written down;
    if only they were inscribed in a book
24 using an iron stylus with lead for ink!
    Then they’d be engraved in rock forever.

25 “As for me, I know that my Vindicator[h] is alive;
    And he, the Last One,[i] will take his stand on the soil.[j]
26 Even after my skin has been destroyed,
    clothed in my flesh I will see God,
27 whom I will see for myself.
My own eyes will look at him—
    there won’t be anyone else for me!—
        He is the culmination of my innermost desire.”

Job Reminds His Friends of Judgment

28 “When you’re thinking about asking yourselves,
    ‘How will we pursue him,
        since the root of the problem is with him?’[k]
29 Make sure that you remain wary of God’s sword,
    for God’s wrath brings with it the sword of punishment,
        by which you’ll know there’s a judgment.”

Footnotes

  1. Job 19:10 Lit. and I’m gone
  2. Job 19:12 Or proceed
  3. Job 19:12 Or together
  4. Job 19:14 Lit. and those who know me
  5. Job 19:16 Lit. him with my mouth
  6. Job 19:19 Or circle of familiar friends
  7. Job 19:22 Lit. satisfied with my flesh
  8. Job 19:25 Or Redeemer
  9. Job 19:25 Lit. And the Last
  10. Job 19:25 Or dust
  11. Job 19:28 Lit me
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Job 19
Lexham English Bible

Job’s Sixth Speech: A Response to Bildad

19 Then[a] Job answered and said,

2 “How long[b] will you[c] torment me[d]
and crush me with words?
3 These ten times you[e] have disgraced me;
you[f] are not ashamed that you[g] have attacked[h] me.
4 And what is more, if I have truly erred,
my error remains with me.
5 If indeed you[i] must magnify yourselves against me,
and you[j] must let my disgrace argue against me,
6 know then that God has wronged me
and has surrounded me with his net.
7 “Look, I cry out, ‘Violence!’ but[k] I am not answered;
I cry out, but[l] there is no justice.
8 He has walled up my way so that[m] I cannot pass;
and he has set darkness upon my paths.
9 He has taken my glory from me,
and he has removed the crown of[n] my head.
10 He has broken me down all around, and I am gone.
And he has uprooted my hope like a tree,
11 and he has kindled his wrath against me,
and he has counted me as one of his foes.[o]
12 His troops have come together
and have thrown up their rampart[p] against me
and have encamped around my tent.
13 “He has removed my kinsfolk from me,
and my acquaintances have only[q] turned aside from me.
14 My relatives have failed,
and my close friends have forgotten me.
15 The sojourners in[r] my house and my slave women count me as a stranger;
I have become a foreigner in their eyes.
16 I call to my servant, but[s] he does not answer;
I must personally[t] plead with him.
17 My breath is repulsive to my wife,
and I am loathsome to my own family.[u]
18 Little boys also despise me;
when I rise, then[v] they talk against me.
19 All my intimate friends[w] abhor me,
and these whom I have loved have turned against me.
20 My bones[x] cling to my skin and to my flesh,
and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21 “Pity me, pity me, you my friends,
for God’s hand has touched me.
22 Why do you[y] pursue me like God?
And are not satisfied with my flesh?
23 “O that[z] my words could be written down!
O that they could be inscribed in a scroll![aa]
24 That with a pen of iron and with lead
they might be engraved on a rock forever!
25 But[ab] I myself[ac] know that my redeemer is alive,
and at the last he will stand up upon the earth.[ad]
26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
but[ae] from[af] my flesh I will see God,
27 whom I will see for myself,[ag]
and whom my eyes will see and not a stranger.[ah]
My heart faints within me.[ai]
28 “If you[aj] say, ‘How will we persecute him?’
And ‘The root of the trouble is found’ in me,[ak]
29 be afraid for yourselves because of the sword,[al]
for wrath brings punishment by[am] the sword,
so that you may know that there is judgment.”

Footnotes

  1. Job 19:1 Hebrew “And”
  2. Job 19:2 Literally “Until when”
  3. Job 19:2 Plural
  4. Job 19:2 Hebrew “my soul,” or “my self”
  5. Job 19:3 Plural
  6. Job 19:3 Plural
  7. Job 19:3 Plural
  8. Job 19:3 Or “astonished”
  9. Job 19:5 Plural
  10. Job 19:5 Plural
  11. Job 19:7 Or “and”
  12. Job 19:7 Hebrew “and”
  13. Job 19:8 Hebrew “and”
  14. Job 19:9 Or “from”
  15. Job 19:11 Literally “he has counted me for him as his foes”
  16. Job 19:12 Or “siege works”; compare NRSV
  17. Job 19:13 Or “completely”
  18. Job 19:15 Or “of”
  19. Job 19:16 Hebrew “and”
  20. Job 19:16 Literally “with my mouth”
  21. Job 19:17 Literally “to the children of my womb”
  22. Job 19:18 Hebrew “and”
  23. Job 19:19 Literally “the men of the circle of my confidants”
  24. Job 19:20 Collective singular
  25. Job 19:22 Plural
  26. Job 19:23 Literally “Who then shall give and”
  27. Job 19:23 Literally “Who shall give in the scroll and they could be inscribed”
  28. Job 19:25 Hebrew “And”
  29. Job 19:25 Emphatic personal pronoun
  30. Job 19:25 Literally “dust”
  31. Job 19:26 Hebrew “and”
  32. Job 19:26 Or “without”
  33. Job 19:27 Literally “I myself will see for myself”; emphatic personal pronoun as subject to the singular verb
  34. Job 19:27 Or “another”
  35. Job 19:27 Literally “My kidneys fail in my lap”; see NRSV
  36. Job 19:28 Plural
  37. Job 19:28 Or “‘The root of the trouble is found’ in him”
  38. Job 19:29 Literally “from the faces of the sword”
  39. Job 19:29 Literally “of”
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