Job Feels Insulted

19 Then Job responded,

“How long will you torment [a]me
And crush me with words?
These ten times you have insulted me;
You are not ashamed to wrong me.
Even if I have truly done wrong,
My error stays with me.
If indeed you (A)exalt yourselves against me
And prove my disgrace to me,
Know then that (B)God has wronged me
And has surrounded me with (C)His net.

Everything Is Against Him

“Behold, (D)I cry, ‘Violence!’ but I get no answer;
I shout for help, but there is no justice.
He has (E)blocked my way so that I cannot pass,
And He has put (F)darkness on my paths.
He has (G)stripped my honor from me
And removed the (H)crown from my head.
10 He (I)breaks me down on every side, and I am gone;
And He has uprooted my (J)hope (K)like a tree.
11 He has also (L)kindled His anger against me
And (M)considered me as His enemy.
12 His (N)troops come together
And (O)build up their [b]way against me
And camp around my tent.

13 “He has (P)removed my brothers far from me,
And my (Q)acquaintances have completely turned away from me.
14 My relatives have failed,
And my (R)close friends have forgotten me.
15 Those who live in my house and my servant women consider me a stranger.
I am a foreigner in their sight.
16 I call to my servant, but he does not answer;
I have to implore his favor with my mouth.
17 My breath is offensive to my wife,
And I am loathsome to my own brothers.
18 Even young children despise me;
I stand up and they speak against me.
19 All [c]my (S)associates loathe me,
And those I love have turned against me.
20 My (T)bone clings to my skin and my flesh,
And I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.
21 Pity me, pity me, you friends of mine,
For the (U)hand of God has struck me.
22 Why do you (V)persecute me as God does,
And are not satisfied with my flesh?

Job Says My Redeemer Lives

23 “Oh that my words were written!
Oh that they were (W)recorded in a book!
24 That with an iron stylus and lead
They were engraved in the rock forever!
25 Yet as for me, I know that (X)my Redeemer lives,
And at the last, He will take His stand on the [d]earth.
26 Even after my skin [e]is destroyed,
Yet from my flesh I will (Y)see God,
27 Whom I, on my part, shall behold for myself,
And whom my eyes will see, and not another.
My [f]heart (Z)faints [g]within me!
28 If you say, ‘How shall we (AA)persecute him?’
And ‘[h]What pretext for a case against him can we find?’
29 Then be afraid of (AB)the sword for yourselves,
For wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
So that you may know (AC)there is judgment.”

Footnotes

  1. Job 19:2 Lit my soul
  2. Job 19:12 I.e., siege ramp
  3. Job 19:19 Lit the men of my council
  4. Job 19:25 Lit dust
  5. Job 19:26 Lit which they have cut off
  6. Job 19:27 Lit kidneys
  7. Job 19:27 Lit in my loins
  8. Job 19:28 Or the root of the matter is found in him

19 And Job answereth and saith: --

Till when do ye afflict my soul, And bruise me with words?

These ten times ye put me to shame, ye blush not. Ye make yourselves strange to me --

And also -- truly, I have erred, With me doth my error remain.

If, truly, over me ye magnify yourselves, And decide against me my reproach;

Know now, that God turned me upside down, And His net against me hath set round,

Lo, I cry out -- violence, and am not answered, I cry aloud, and there is no judgment.

My way He hedged up, and I pass not over, And on my paths darkness He placeth.

Mine honour from off me He hath stripped, And He turneth the crown from my head.

10 He breaketh me down round about, and I go, And removeth like a tree my hope.

11 And He kindleth against me His anger, And reckoneth me to Him as His adversaries.

12 Come in do His troops together, And they raise up against me their way, And encamp round about my tent.

13 My brethren from me He hath put far off, And mine acquaintances surely Have been estranged from me.

14 Ceased have my neighbours And my familiar friends have forgotten me,

15 Sojourners of my house and my maids, For a stranger reckon me: An alien I have been in their eyes.

16 To my servant I have called, And he doth not answer, With my mouth I make supplication to him.

17 My spirit is strange to my wife, And my favours to the sons of my [mother's] womb.

18 Also sucklings have despised me, I rise, and they speak against me.

19 Abominate me do all the men of my counsel, And those I have loved, Have been turned against me.

20 To my skin and to my flesh Cleaved hath my bone, And I deliver myself with the skin of my teeth.

21 Pity me, pity me, ye my friends, For the hand of God hath stricken against me.

22 Why do you pursue me as God? And with my flesh are not satisfied?

23 Who doth grant now, That my words may be written? Who doth grant that in a book they may be graven?

24 With a pen of iron and lead -- For ever in a rock they may be hewn.

25 That -- I have known my Redeemer, The Living and the Last, For the dust he doth rise.

26 And after my skin hath compassed this [body], Then from my flesh I see God:

27 Whom I -- I see on my side, And mine eyes have beheld, and not a stranger, Consumed have been my reins in my bosom.

28 But ye say, `Why do we pursue after him?' And the root of the matter hath been found in me.

29 Be ye afraid because of the sword, For furious [are] the punishments of the sword, That ye may know that [there is] a judgment.