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19 Then Job answered:

How long will you vex and torment me and break me in pieces with words?

These ten times you have reproached me; you are not ashamed that you make yourselves strange [harden yourselves against me and deal severely with me].

And if it were true that I have erred, my error would remain with me [I would be conscious of it].

If indeed you magnify yourselves against me and plead against me my reproach and humiliation,

Know that God has overthrown and put me in the wrong and has closed His net about me.

Behold, I cry out, Violence! but I am not heard; I cry aloud for help, but there is no justice.

He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass, and He has set darkness upon my paths.

He has stripped me of my glory and taken the crown from my head.

10 He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone; my hope has He pulled up like a tree.

11 He has also kindled His wrath against me, and He counts me as one of His adversaries.

12 His troops come together and cast up their way and siege works against me and encamp round about my tent.

13 He has put my brethren far from me, and my acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.

14 My kinsfolk have failed me, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.

15 Those who live temporarily in my house and my maids count me as a stranger; I am an alien in their sight.

16 I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer, though I beseech him with words.

17 I am repulsive to my wife and loathsome to the children of my own mother.

18 Even young children despise me; when I get up, they speak against me.

19 All the men of my council and my familiar friends abhor me; those whom I loved are turned against me.

20 My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped with the skin or gums of my teeth.

21 Have pity on me! Have pity on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me!

22 Why do you, as if you were God, pursue and persecute me? [Acting like wild beasts] why are you not satisfied with my flesh?

23 Oh, that the words I now speak were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book [carved on a tablet of stone]!

24 That with an iron pen and [molten] lead they were graven in the rock forever!

25 For I know that my Redeemer and Vindicator lives, and at last He [the Last One] will stand upon the earth.(A)

26 And after my skin, even this body, has been destroyed, then from my flesh or without it I shall see God,

27 Whom I, even I, shall see for myself and on my side! And my eyes shall behold Him, and not as a stranger! My heart pines away and is consumed within me.

28 If you say, How we will pursue him! [and continue to persecute me with the claim] that the root [cause] of all these [afflictions] is found in me,

29 Then beware and be afraid of the sword [of divine vengeance], for wrathful are the punishments of that sword, that you may know there is a judgment.

Job

19 Then Job replied:

“How long will you torment(A) me
    and crush(B) me with words?
Ten times(C) now you have reproached(D) me;
    shamelessly you attack me.
If it is true that I have gone astray,
    my error(E) remains my concern alone.
If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me(F)
    and use my humiliation against me,
then know that God has wronged me(G)
    and drawn his net(H) around me.(I)

“Though I cry, ‘Violence!’ I get no response;(J)
    though I call for help,(K) there is no justice.(L)
He has blocked my way so I cannot pass;(M)
    he has shrouded my paths in darkness.(N)
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)

Footnotes

  1. Job 19:20 Or only by my gums
  2. Job 19:24 Or and
  3. Job 19:25 Or vindicator
  4. Job 19:25 Or on my grave
  5. Job 19:26 Or And after I awake, / though this body has been destroyed, / then
  6. Job 19:26 Or destroyed, / apart from
  7. Job 19:28 Many Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint and Vulgate; most Hebrew manuscripts me
  8. Job 19:29 Or sword, / that you may come to know the Almighty