Add parallel Print Page Options

19 1-2 Why do you keep tormenting me with words?
Time after time you insult me
    and show no shame for the way you abuse me.
Even if I have done wrong,
    how does that hurt you?
You think you are better than I am,
    and regard my troubles as proof of my guilt.
Can't you see it is God who has done this?
    He has set a trap to catch me.
I protest his violence,
    but no one is listening;
    no one hears my cry for justice.
God has blocked the way, and I can't get through;
    he has hidden my path in darkness.
He has taken away all my wealth
    and destroyed my reputation.
10 He batters me from every side.
He uproots my hope
    and leaves me to wither and die.
11 God is angry and rages against me;
    he treats me like his worst enemy.
12 He sends his army to attack me;
    they dig trenches and lay siege to my tent.

13 God has made my own family forsake me;
    I am a stranger to those who knew me;
14     my relatives and friends are gone.
15 Those who were guests in my house have forgotten me;
    my servant women treat me like a stranger and a foreigner.
16 When I call a servant, he doesn't answer—
    even when I beg him to help me.
17 My wife can't stand the smell of my breath,
    and my own brothers won't come near me.
18 Children despise me and laugh when they see me.
19 (A)My closest friends look at me with disgust;
    those I loved most have turned against me.
20 My skin hangs loose on my bones;
    I have barely escaped with my life.[a]
21 You are my friends! Take pity on me!
    The hand of God has struck me down.
22 Why must you persecute me the way God does?
    Haven't you tormented me enough?

23 How I wish that someone would remember my words
    and record them in a book!
24 Or with a chisel carve my words in stone
    and write them so that they would last forever.[b]

25 But I know there is someone in heaven
    who will come at last to my defense.
26 Even after my skin is eaten by disease,
    while still in this body[c] I will see God.[d]
27 I will see him with my own eyes,
    and he will not be a stranger.

My courage failed because you said,
28     “How can we torment him?”
    You looked for some excuse to attack me.
29 But now, be afraid of the sword—
    the sword that brings God's wrath on sin,
    so that you will know there is one who judges.[e]

Footnotes

  1. Job 19:20 Verse 20 in Hebrew is unclear.
  2. Job 19:24 last forever; or be on record.
  3. Job 19:26 while still in this body; or although not in this body.
  4. Job 19:26 Verse 26 in Hebrew is unclear.
  5. Job 19:29 one who judges; or 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