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Job 19-20
Common English Bible
Job 19-20
Common English Bible
Failed friendship
19 Then Job responded:
2 How long will you harass me
and crush me with words?
3 These ten times you’ve humiliated me;
shamelessly you insult me.
4 Have I really gone astray?
If so, my error remains hidden inside me.
5 If you look down on me
and use my disgrace to criticize me,
6 know then that God has wronged me
and enclosed his net over me.
God’s treatment of Job
7 If I cry “Violence!” I’m not answered;
I shout—but there is no justice.
8 He walled up my path so I can’t pass
and put darkness on my trail,
9 stripped my honor from me,
removed the crown from my head,
10 tore me down completely so that I’ll die, and uprooted my hope like a tree.
11 His anger burns against me;
he considers me his enemy.
12 His troops come as one
and construct their siege ramp[a] against me;
they camp around my tent.
Social ostracism
13 He has distanced my family from me;
my acquaintances are also alienated from me.
14 My visitors have ceased;
those who know me have forgotten me.
15 My guests and female servants think me a stranger;
I’m a foreigner in their sight.
16 I call my servant, and he doesn’t answer;
I myself must beg him.
17 My breath stinks to my wife;
I am odious to my children.
18 Even the young despise me;
I get up, and they rail against me.
19 All my closest friends despise me;
the ones I have loved turn against me.
Misery
20 My bones cling to my skin and flesh;
I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21 Pity me. Pity me. You’re my friends.
God’s hand has truly struck me.
22 Why do you pursue me like God does,
always hungry for my flesh?
Brief hope
23 Oh, that my words were written down,
inscribed on a scroll
24 with an iron instrument and lead,
forever engraved on stone.
25 But I know that my redeemer[b] is alive
and afterward he’ll rise upon the dust.
26 After my skin has been torn apart this way—
then from my flesh[c] I’ll see God,
27 whom I’ll see myself—
my eyes see,[d] and not a stranger’s.
I am utterly dejected.
Warning
28 You say, “How will we pursue him
so that the root of the matter can be found in him?”[e]
29 You ought to fear the sword yourselves,
for wrath brings punishment by the sword.
You should know that there is judgment.
Traditional belief
20 Zophar from Naamah said:
2 Therefore, my troubled thoughts make me turn back—
because of my inner turmoil.
3 I hear teaching that insults me,
but I am forced to answer based on my own understanding.[f]
4 Do you know this from long ago—
from when humans were placed on earth—
5 that the rejoicing of the wicked is short,
the joy of the godless, brief?
6 Though their height reaches heaven
and their heads touch the clouds,
7 they will perish forever like their dung;
those who saw them will say, “Where are they?”
8 They will disappear like a dream,
and none will find them,
carried away like a nighttime vision.
9 The eye that saw them will do so no more;
they won’t be seen again at home.
10 Their children will repay the poor;
their hands will give back their wealth.
11 Vigor filled their bones
and now sleeps with them in the dust.
12 Though wickedness is sweet in their mouths,
they hide it under their tongues;
13 they like it, won’t let it go;
they hold it in their cheeks.
14 Food turns their stomachs,
becoming a cobra’s poison inside.
15 They swallow wealth and vomit it;
God dislodges it from their belly.
16 They suck cobra’s poison;
a viper’s tongue kills them.
17 They won’t experience streams,
rivers of honey, and brooks of cream.
18 They won’t receive the reward for their labor;
they won’t enjoy the wealth from their business.
19 They crushed and abandoned the poor;
stole a house they didn’t build;
20 didn’t know contentment in their belly;
couldn’t escape with their treasure.
21 Nothing remained of their food,
so their riches will not endure.
22 Even in their plenty, they are hard-pressed;
all sorts of trouble come on them.
23 Let God[g] fill their belly,
unleash his burning anger on them,
rain punishing blows on them.
24 If they flee an iron weapon,
a bronze bow pierces them.
25 They pull it out, but it sticks out from their backs;
its shaft in their liver brings terror.
26 Complete darkness waits for their treasured possessions;
fire that no one stoked consumes them;
what’s left in their tent is ruined.
27 Heaven exposes their guilt;
earth opposes them.
28 Their household wealth will be carried off
by rushing streams on the day of his anger.
29 This is a wicked person’s lot from God,
their heritage decreed by God.
Job 19-20
New International Version
Job 19-20
New International Version
Job
19 Then Job replied:
2 “How long will you torment(A) me
and crush(B) me with words?
3 Ten times(C) now you have reproached(D) me;
shamelessly you attack me.
4 If it is true that I have gone astray,
my error(E) remains my concern alone.
5 If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me(F)
and use my humiliation against me,
6 then know that God has wronged me(G)
and drawn his net(H) around me.(I)
7 “Though I cry, ‘Violence!’ I get no response;(J)
though I call for help,(K) there is no justice.(L)
8 He has blocked my way so I cannot pass;(M)
he has shrouded my paths in darkness.(N)
9 He has stripped(O) me of my honor(P)
and removed the crown from my head.(Q)
10 He tears me down(R) on every side till I am gone;
he uproots my hope(S) like a tree.(T)
11 His anger(U) burns against me;
he counts me among his enemies.(V)
12 His troops advance in force;(W)
they build a siege ramp(X) against me
and encamp around my tent.(Y)
13 “He has alienated my family(Z) from me;
my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.(AA)
14 My relatives have gone away;
my closest friends(AB) have forgotten me.
15 My guests(AC) and my female servants(AD) count me a foreigner;
they look on me as on a stranger.
16 I summon my servant, but he does not answer,
though I beg him with my own mouth.
17 My breath is offensive to my wife;
I am loathsome(AE) to my own family.
18 Even the little boys(AF) scorn me;
when I appear, they ridicule me.(AG)
19 All my intimate friends(AH) detest me;(AI)
those I love have turned against me.(AJ)
20 I am nothing but skin and bones;(AK)
I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.[a]
21 “Have pity on me, my friends,(AL) have pity,
for the hand of God has struck(AM) me.
22 Why do you pursue(AN) me as God does?(AO)
Will you never get enough of my flesh?(AP)
23 “Oh, that my words were recorded,
that they were written on a scroll,(AQ)
24 that they were inscribed with an iron tool(AR) on[b] lead,
or engraved in rock forever!(AS)
25 I know that my redeemer[c](AT) lives,(AU)
and that in the end he will stand on the earth.[d]
26 And after my skin has been destroyed,
yet[e] in[f] my flesh I will see God;(AV)
27 I myself will see him
with my own eyes(AW)—I, and not another.
How my heart yearns(AX) within me!
28 “If you say, ‘How we will hound(AY) him,
since the root of the trouble lies in him,[g]’
29 you should fear the sword yourselves;
for wrath will bring punishment by the sword,(AZ)
and then you will know that there is judgment.[h]”(BA)
Zophar
20 Then Zophar the Naamathite(BB) replied:
2 “My troubled thoughts prompt me to answer
because I am greatly disturbed.(BC)
3 I hear a rebuke(BD) that dishonors me,
and my understanding inspires me to reply.
4 “Surely you know how it has been from of old,(BE)
ever since mankind[i] was placed on the earth,
5 that the mirth of the wicked(BF) is brief,
the joy of the godless(BG) lasts but a moment.(BH)
6 Though the pride(BI) of the godless person reaches to the heavens(BJ)
and his head touches the clouds,(BK)
7 he will perish forever,(BL) like his own dung;
those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’(BM)
8 Like a dream(BN) he flies away,(BO) no more to be found,
banished(BP) like a vision of the night.(BQ)
9 The eye that saw him will not see him again;
his place will look on him no more.(BR)
10 His children(BS) must make amends to the poor;
his own hands must give back his wealth.(BT)
11 The youthful vigor(BU) that fills his bones(BV)
will lie with him in the dust.(BW)
12 “Though evil(BX) is sweet in his mouth
and he hides it under his tongue,(BY)
13 though he cannot bear to let it go
and lets it linger in his mouth,(BZ)
14 yet his food will turn sour in his stomach;(CA)
it will become the venom of serpents(CB) within him.
15 He will spit out the riches(CC) he swallowed;
God will make his stomach vomit(CD) them up.
16 He will suck the poison(CE) of serpents;
the fangs of an adder will kill him.(CF)
17 He will not enjoy the streams,
the rivers(CG) flowing with honey(CH) and cream.(CI)
18 What he toiled for he must give back uneaten;(CJ)
he will not enjoy the profit from his trading.(CK)
19 For he has oppressed the poor(CL) and left them destitute;(CM)
he has seized houses(CN) he did not build.
20 “Surely he will have no respite from his craving;(CO)
he cannot save himself by his treasure.(CP)
21 Nothing is left for him to devour;
his prosperity will not endure.(CQ)
22 In the midst of his plenty, distress will overtake him;(CR)
the full force of misery will come upon him.(CS)
23 When he has filled his belly,(CT)
God will vent his burning anger(CU) against him
and rain down his blows on him.(CV)
24 Though he flees(CW) from an iron weapon,
a bronze-tipped arrow pierces him.(CX)
25 He pulls it out of his back,
the gleaming point out of his liver.
Terrors(CY) will come over him;(CZ)
26 total darkness(DA) lies in wait for his treasures.
A fire(DB) unfanned will consume him(DC)
and devour what is left in his tent.(DD)
27 The heavens will expose his guilt;
the earth will rise up against him.(DE)
28 A flood will carry off his house,(DF)
rushing waters[j] on the day of God’s wrath.(DG)
29 Such is the fate God allots the wicked,
the heritage appointed for them by God.”(DH)
Footnotes
- Job 19:20 Or only by my gums
- Job 19:24 Or and
- Job 19:25 Or vindicator
- Job 19:25 Or on my grave
- Job 19:26 Or And after I awake, / though this body has been destroyed, / then
- Job 19:26 Or destroyed, / apart from
- Job 19:28 Many Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint and Vulgate; most Hebrew manuscripts me
- Job 19:29 Or sword, / that you may come to know the Almighty
- Job 20:4 Or Adam
- Job 20:28 Or The possessions in his house will be carried off, / washed away
Common English Bible (CEB)
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.