Job 19
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Job Replies: I Know That My Vindicator Lives
19 Then Job answered:
2 “How long will you torment me
and break me in pieces with words?
3 These ten times you have cast reproach upon me;
are you not ashamed to wrong me?
4 And even if it is true that I have erred,
my error remains with me.(A)
5 If indeed you magnify yourselves against me
and make my humiliation an argument against me,(B)
6 know then that God has put me in the wrong
and closed his net around me.(C)
7 Even when I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I am not answered;
I call aloud, but there is no justice.(D)
8 He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass,
and he has set darkness upon my paths.(E)
9 He has stripped my glory from me
and taken the crown from my head.(F)
10 He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone;
he has uprooted my hope like a tree.(G)
11 He has kindled his wrath against me
and counts me as his adversary.(H)
12 His troops come on together;
they have thrown up siegeworks[a] against me
and encamp around my tent.(I)
13 “He has put my family far from me,
and my acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.
14 My relatives and my close friends have failed me;
15 the guests in my house have forgotten me;
my female servants count me as a stranger;
I have become an alien in their eyes.(J)
16 I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer;
I must myself plead with him.
17 My breath is repulsive to my wife;
I am loathsome to my own family.
18 Even young children despise me;
when I rise, they talk against me.(K)
19 All my intimate friends abhor me,
and those whom I love have turned against me.(L)
20 My bones cling to my skin and to my flesh,
and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.(M)
21 Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends,
for the hand of God has touched me!(N)
22 Why do you, like God, pursue me,
never satisfied with my flesh?(O)
23 “O that my words were written down!
O that they were inscribed in a book!(P)
24 O that with an iron pen and with lead
they were engraved on a rock forever!(Q)
25 For I know that my vindicator[b] lives
and that in the end he will stand upon the earth;(R)
26 and after my skin has been destroyed,
then in my flesh I shall see God,(S)
27 whom I shall see on my side,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
My heart faints within me!(T)
28 If you say, ‘How we will persecute him!’
and, ‘The root of the matter is found in him,’(U)
29 be afraid of the sword,
for wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
so that you may know there is a judgment.”(V)
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
- Job 19:10 Lit. and I’m gone
- Job 19:12 Or proceed
- Job 19:12 Or together
- Job 19:14 Lit. and those who know me
- Job 19:16 Lit. him with my mouth
- Job 19:19 Or circle of familiar friends
- Job 19:22 Lit. satisfied with my flesh
- Job 19:25 Or Redeemer
- Job 19:25 Lit. And the Last
- Job 19:25 Or dust
- Job 19:28 Lit me
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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