Job 19
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.
Job 19
Easy-to-Read Version
Job Answers
19 Then Job answered:
2 “How long will you hurt me
and crush me with your words?
3 You have insulted me ten times now.
You have attacked me without shame!
4 Even if I have sinned,
it is my problem, not yours!
5 You want me to look bad to make yourselves look good.
You say my troubles are proof that I did wrong.
6 I want you to know it was God who did this.
He set this trap for me.
7 I shout, ‘He hurt me!’ but get no answer.
No one hears my cry for fairness.
8 God has blocked my way to keep me from getting through.
He has hidden my path in darkness.
9 He took away my honor.
He took the crown from my head.
10 He hits me on every side until I am worn out.
He takes away my hope.
It is like a tree pulled up by the roots.
11 His anger burns against me.
He treats me like an enemy.
12 He sends his army to attack me.
They build attack towers around me.
They camp around my tent.
13 “God has made my brothers hate me.
Those who knew me have become strangers.
14 My relatives have left me.
My friends have forgotten me.
15 My servant girls and visitors in my home
look at me as if I am a stranger and a foreigner.
16 I call for my servant, but he does not answer.
Even if I beg for help, he will not answer.
17 My wife hates the smell of my breath.
My own brothers hate me.
18 Even little children make fun of me.
When I get up, they say bad things about me.
19 All my close friends hate me.
Even my loved ones have turned against me.
20 “I am so thin, my skin hangs loose on my bones.
I have little life left in me.
21 “Pity me, my friends, pity me,
because God is against me.
22 Why do you persecute me as God does?
Don’t you get tired of hurting me?
23 “I wish someone would write down everything I say.
I wish my words were written on a scroll.
24 I wish they were carved with an iron tool into lead
or scratched on a rock so that they would last forever.
25 I know that there is someone to defend me and that he lives!
And in the end, he will stand here on earth and defend me.
26 After I leave my body and my skin has been destroyed,
I know I will still see God.
27 I will see him with my own eyes.
I myself, not someone else, will see God.
And I cannot tell you how excited that makes me feel![a]
28 “Maybe you will say, ‘How can we push Job a little harder
and make him realize that he is the source of his problems?’
29 But you need to worry about your own punishment.
God might use the sword against you!
Then you will know there is a time for judgment.”
Footnotes
- Job 19:27 Or “And in the end, he will stand here on earth and defend me, 26 even after my skin has been destroyed. But I want to see God while I am still in my body. 27 I want to see him with my own eyes, not through someone else’s eyes. And I cannot tell you how much I want this to happen!”
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International