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
- Job 19:1 Hebrew “And”
- Job 19:2 Literally “Until when”
- Job 19:2 Plural
- Job 19:2 Hebrew “my soul,” or “my self”
- Job 19:3 Plural
- Job 19:3 Plural
- Job 19:3 Plural
- Job 19:3 Or “astonished”
- Job 19:5 Plural
- Job 19:5 Plural
- Job 19:7 Or “and”
- Job 19:7 Hebrew “and”
- Job 19:8 Hebrew “and”
- Job 19:9 Or “from”
- Job 19:11 Literally “he has counted me for him as his foes”
- Job 19:12 Or “siege works”; compare NRSV
- Job 19:13 Or “completely”
- Job 19:15 Or “of”
- Job 19:16 Hebrew “and”
- Job 19:16 Literally “with my mouth”
- Job 19:17 Literally “to the children of my womb”
- Job 19:18 Hebrew “and”
- Job 19:19 Literally “the men of the circle of my confidants”
- Job 19:20 Collective singular
- Job 19:22 Plural
- Job 19:23 Literally “Who then shall give and”
- Job 19:23 Literally “Who shall give in the scroll and they could be inscribed”
- Job 19:25 Hebrew “And”
- Job 19:25 Emphatic personal pronoun
- Job 19:25 Literally “dust”
- Job 19:26 Hebrew “and”
- Job 19:26 Or “without”
- Job 19:27 Literally “I myself will see for myself”; emphatic personal pronoun as subject to the singular verb
- Job 19:27 Or “another”
- Job 19:27 Literally “My kidneys fail in my lap”; see NRSV
- Job 19:28 Plural
- Job 19:28 Or “‘The root of the trouble is found’ in him”
- Job 19:29 Literally “from the faces of the sword”
- Job 19:29 Literally “of”
Job 19
Christian Standard Bible
Job’s Reply to Bildad
19 Then Job answered:
2 How long will you torment me
and crush me with words?
3 You have humiliated me ten times now,
and you mistreat[a] me without shame.(A)
4 Even if it is true that I have sinned,
my mistake concerns only[b] me.
5 If you really want to appear superior(B) to me
and would use my disgrace as evidence against me,
6 then understand that it is God who has wronged me
and caught me in his net.(C)
7 I cry out, “Violence!” but get no response;(D)
I call for help, but there is no justice.
8 He has blocked(E) my way so that I cannot pass through;
he has veiled my paths with darkness.(F)
9 He has stripped me of my honor
and removed the crown from my head.
10 He tears me down on every side so that I am ruined.[c]
He uproots my hope like a tree.(G)
11 His anger(H) burns against me,
and he regards me as one of his enemies.(I)
12 His troops advance together;
they construct a ramp[d] against me
and camp(J) around my tent.
13 He has removed my brothers from me;
my acquaintances have abandoned me.(K)
14 My relatives stop coming by,
and my close friends have forgotten me.
15 My house guests[e] and female servants regard me as a stranger;
I am a foreigner in their sight.(L)
16 I call for my servant, but he does not answer,
even if I beg him with my own mouth.
17 My breath is offensive to my wife,
and my own family[f] finds me repulsive.
18 Even young boys scorn me.
When I stand up, they mock me.(M)
19 All of my best friends[g] despise me,(N)
and those I love have turned against me.(O)
20 My skin and my flesh cling to my bones;
I have escaped with only the skin of my teeth.
21 Have mercy on me, my friends,(P) have mercy,
for God’s hand(Q) has struck me.(R)
22 Why do you persecute me as God does?
Will you never get enough of my flesh?
23 I wish that my words were written down,
that they were recorded on a scroll
24 or were inscribed in stone forever
by an iron stylus and lead!
25 But I know that my Redeemer lives,[h](S)
and at the end he will stand on the dust.(T)
26 Even after my skin has been destroyed,[i]
yet I will see God in[j] my flesh.(U)
27 I will see him myself;
my eyes will look at him, and not as a stranger.[k]
My heart longs[l] within me.(V)
28 If you say, “How will we pursue him,
since the root of the problem lies with him?” [m]
29 then be afraid of the sword,
because wrath brings punishment by the sword,(W)
so that you may know there is a judgment.
Footnotes
- 19:3 Hb obscure
- 19:4 Lit mistake lives with
- 19:10 Lit gone
- 19:12 Lit they raise up their way
- 19:15 Or The resident aliens in my household
- 19:17 Lit and the sons of my belly
- 19:19 Lit of the men of my council
- 19:25 Or know my living Redeemer
- 19:26 Lit skin which they destroyed, or skin they destroyed in this way
- 19:26 Or apart from
- 19:27 Or not a stranger
- 19:27 Lit My kidneys grow faint
- 19:28 Some Hb mss, LXX, Vg; other Hb mss read me
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