Job 19
New King James Version
Job Trusts in His Redeemer
19 Then Job answered and said:
2 “How long will you torment my soul,
And break me in pieces with words?
3 These ten times you have [a]reproached me;
You are not ashamed that you [b]have wronged me.
4 And if indeed I have erred,
My error remains with me.
5 If indeed you (A)exalt yourselves against me,
And plead my disgrace against me,
6 Know then that (B)God has wronged me,
And has surrounded me with His net.
7 “If I cry out concerning [c]wrong, I am not heard.
If I cry aloud, there is no justice.
8 (C)He has [d]fenced up my way, so that I cannot pass;
And He has set darkness in my paths.
9 (D)He has stripped me of my glory,
And taken the crown from my head.
10 He breaks me down on every side,
And I am gone;
My (E)hope He has uprooted like a tree.
11 He has also kindled His wrath against me,
And (F)He counts me as one of His enemies.
12 His troops come together
And build up their road against me;
They encamp all around my tent.
13 “He(G) has removed my brothers far from me,
And my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.
14 My relatives have failed,
And my close friends have forgotten me.
15 Those who dwell in my house, and my maidservants,
Count me as a stranger;
I am an alien in their sight.
16 I call my servant, but he gives no answer;
I beg him with my mouth.
17 My breath is offensive to my wife,
And I am [e]repulsive to the children of my own body.
18 Even (H)young children despise me;
I arise, and they speak against me.
19 (I)All my close friends abhor me,
And those whom I love have turned against me.
20 (J)My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh,
And I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21 “Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends,
For the hand of God has struck me!
22 Why do you (K)persecute me as God does,
And are not satisfied with my flesh?
23 “Oh, that my words were written!
Oh, that they were inscribed in a book!
24 That they were engraved on a rock
With an iron pen and lead, forever!
25 For I know that my Redeemer lives,
And He shall stand at last on the earth;
26 And after my skin is [f]destroyed, this I know,
That (L)in my flesh I shall see God,
27 Whom I shall see for myself,
And my eyes shall behold, and not another.
How my [g]heart yearns within me!
28 If you should say, ‘How shall we persecute him?’—
Since the root of the matter is found in me,
29 Be afraid of the sword for yourselves;
For wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
That you may know there is a judgment.”
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”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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