| Chapter 19 |
1 | Then Job answered, |
2 | 'How long will you torment me, And crush me with words? |
3 | You have reproached me ten times. You aren't ashamed that you attack me. |
4 | If it is true that I have erred, My error remains with myself. |
5 | If indeed you will magnify yourselves against me, And plead against me my reproach; |
6 | Know now that God has subverted me, And has surrounded me with his net. |
7 | 'Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry for help, but there is no justice. |
8 | He has walled up my way so that I can't pass, And has set darkness in my paths. |
9 | 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 he has plucked up like a tree. |
11 | He has also kindled his wrath against me. He counts me among his adversaries. |
12 | His troops come on together, Build a siege ramp against me, And encamp around my tent. |
13 | 'He has put my brothers far from me. My acquaintances are wholly estranged from me. |
14 | My relatives have gone away. My familiar friends have forgotten me. |
15 | Those who dwell in my house, and my maids, count me for a stranger. I am an alien in their sight. |
16 | I call to my servant, and he gives me no answer; I beg him with my mouth. |
17 | My breath is offensive to my wife. I am loathsome to the children of my own mother. |
18 | Even young children despise me. If I arise, they speak against me. |
19 | All my familiar friends abhor me. They whom I loved have turned against me. |
20 | My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh. I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. |
21 | 'Have pity on me, have pity on me, you my friends; For the hand of God has touched me. |
22 | Why do you persecute me as God, And are not satisfied with my flesh? |
23 | 'Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! |
24 | That with an iron pen and lead They were engraved in the rock forever! |
25 | But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, he will stand upon the earth. |
26 | After my skin is destroyed, Then in my flesh shall I see God, |
27 | Whom I, even I, shall see on my side. My eyes shall see, and not as a stranger. 'My heart is consumed within me. |
28 | If you say, 'How we will persecute him!' Because the root of the matter is found in me, |
29 | Be afraid of the sword, For wrath brings the punishments of the sword, That you may know there is a judgment.' |