Job 19
Complete Jewish Bible
19 Then Iyov answered:
2 “How long will you go on making me angry,
crushing me with words?
3 You’ve insulted me ten times already;
aren’t you ashamed to treat me so badly?
4 Even if it’s true that I made a mistake,
my error stays with me.
5 “You may take a superior attitude toward me
and cite my disgrace as proof against me;
6 but know that it’s God who has put me in the wrong
and closed his net around me.
7 If I cry, ‘Violence!’ no one hears me;
I cry aloud, but there is no justice.
8 “He has fenced off my way, so that I can’t pass;
he has covered my paths with darkness.
9 He has stripped me of my glory
and removed the crown from my head.
10 He tears every part of me down — I am gone;
he uproots my hope like a tree.
11 “Inflamed with anger against me,
he counts me as one of his foes.
12 His troops advance together,
they make their way against me
and encamp around my tent.
13 “He has made my brothers keep their distance,
those who know me are wholly estranged from me,
14 my kinsfolk have failed me,
and my close friends have forgotten me.
15 Those living in my house consider me a stranger;
my slave-girls too — in their view I’m a foreigner.
16 I call my servant, and he doesn’t answer,
even if I beg him for a favor!
17 “My wife can’t stand my breath,
I am loathsome to my own family.
18 Even young children despise me —
if I stand up, they start jeering at me.
19 All my intimate friends abhor me,
and those I loved have turned against me.
20 My bones stick to my skin and flesh;
I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21 “Pity me, friends of mine, pity me!
For the hand of God has struck me!
22 Must you pursue me as God does,
never satisfied with my flesh?
23 I wish my words were written down,
that they were inscribed in a scroll,
24 that, engraved with iron and filled with lead,
they were cut into rock forever!
25 “But I know that my Redeemer lives,
that in the end he will rise on the dust;
26 so that after my skin has been thus destroyed,
then even without my flesh, I will see God.
27 I will see him for myself,
my eyes, not someone else’s, will behold him.
My heart grows weak inside me!
28 “If you say, ‘How will we persecute him?’ —
the root of the matter is found in me.
29 You had best fear the sword,
for anger brings the punishment of the sword,
so that you will know there is judgment!”
Job 19
New Century Version
Job Answers Bildad
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
and attacked me without shame.
4 Even if I have sinned,
it is my worry alone.
5 If you want to make yourselves look better than I,
you can blame me for my suffering.
6 Then know that God has wronged me
and pulled his net around me.
7 “I shout, ‘I have been wronged!’
But I get no answer.
I scream for help
but I get no justice.
8 God has blocked my way so I cannot pass;
he has covered my paths with darkness.
9 He has taken away my honor
and removed the crown from my head.
10 He beats me down on every side until I am gone;
he destroys my hope like a fallen tree.
11 His anger burns against me,
and he treats me like an enemy.
12 His armies gather;
they prepare to attack me.
They camp around my tent.
13 “God has made my brothers my enemies,
and my friends have become strangers.
14 My relatives have gone away,
and my friends have forgotten me.
15 My guests and my female servants treat me like a stranger;
they look at me as if I were a foreigner.
16 I call for my servant, but he does not answer,
even when I beg him with my own mouth.
17 My wife can’t stand my breath,
and my own family dislikes me.
18 Even the little boys hate me
and talk about me when I leave.
19 All my close friends hate me;
even those I love have turned against me.
20 I am nothing but skin and bones;
I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21 Pity me, my friends, pity me,
because the hand of God has hit me.
22 Why do you chase me as God does?
Haven’t you hurt me enough?
23 “How I wish my words were written down,
written on a scroll.
24 I wish they were carved with an iron pen into lead,
or carved into stone forever.
25 I know that my Defender lives,
and in the end he will stand upon the earth.
26 Even after my skin has been destroyed,
in my flesh I will see God.
27 I will see him myself;
I will see him with my very own eyes.
How my heart wants that to happen!
28 “If you say, ‘We will continue to trouble Job,
because the problem lies with him,’
29 you should be afraid of the sword yourselves.
God’s anger will bring punishment by the sword.
Then you will know there is judgment.”
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
