Job 19:1–20:29
1 Then Job 1responded,
2 “How long will you torment 1me
And crush me with words?
3 “These ten times you have insulted me;
You are not ashamed to wrong me.
4 “Even if I have truly erred,
My error lodges with me.
5 “If indeed you avaunt yourselves against me
And prove my disgrace to me,
6 Know then that aGod has wronged me
And has closed bHis net around me.
7 “Behold, aI cry, ‘Violence!’ but I get no answer;
I shout for help, but there is no justice.
8 “He has awalled up my way so that I cannot pass,
And He has put bdarkness on my paths.
9 “He has astripped my honor from me
And removed the bcrown from my head.
10 “He abreaks me down on every side, and I am gone;
And He has uprooted my bhope clike a tree.
11 “He has also akindled His anger against me
And bconsidered me as His enemy.
12 “His atroops come together,
And bbuild up their 1way against me
And camp around my tent.
13 “He has aremoved my brothers far from me,
And my bacquaintances are completely estranged from me.
And my aintimate friends have forgotten me.
15 “Those who live in my house and my maids 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 him with my mouth.
17 “My breath is 1offensive to my wife,
And I am loathsome to my own brothers.
18 “Even young children despise me;
I rise up and they speak against me.
19 “All 1my aassociates abhor me,
And those I love have turned against me.
20 “My abone clings to my skin and my flesh,
And I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.
21 “Pity me, pity me, O you my friends,
For the ahand of God has struck me.
22 “Why do you apersecute me as God does,
And are not satisfied with my flesh?
23 “Oh that my words were written!
Oh that they were ainscribed in a book!
24 “That with an iron stylus and lead
They were engraved in the rock forever!
25 “As for me, I know that amy 1Redeemer lives,
And 2at the last He will take His stand on the 3earth.
26 “Even after my skin 1is destroyed,
Yet from my flesh I shall asee God;
27 Whom I 1myself shall behold,
And whom my eyes will see and not another.
28 “If you say, ‘How shall we apersecute him?’
And ‘1What pretext for a case against him can we find?’
29 “Then be afraid of athe sword for yourselves,
For wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
So that you may know bthere is judgment.”
Zophar Says, “The Triumph of the Wicked Is Short”
1 Then Zophar the Naamathite 1answered,
2 “Therefore my disquieting thoughts make me 1respond,
Even because of my 2inward agitation.
3 “I listened to athe reproof which insults me,
And the spirit of my understanding makes me answer.
4 “Do you know this from aof old,
From the establishment of man on earth,
5 That the atriumphing of the wicked is short,
And bthe joy of the godless momentary?
6 “Though his loftiness 1areaches the heavens,
And his head touches the clouds,
7 He aperishes forever like his refuse;
Those who have seen him bwill say, ‘Where is he?’
8 “He flies away like a adream, and they cannot find him;
Even like a vision of the night he is bchased away.
9 “The aeye which saw him sees him no longer,
And bhis place no longer beholds him.
10 “His asons 1favor the poor,
And his hands bgive back his wealth.
11 “His abones are full of his youthful vigor,
But it lies down with him 1in the dust.
12 “Though aevil is sweet in his mouth
And he hides it under his tongue,
13 Though he 1desires it and will not let it go,
14 Yet his food in his stomach is changed
To the 1venom of cobras within him.
But will avomit them up;
God will expel them from his belly.
16 “He sucks athe poison of cobras;
The viper’s tongue slays him.
17 “He does not look at athe streams,
The rivers flowing with honey and curds.
18 “He areturns what he has attained
And cannot swallow it;
As to the riches of his trading,
He cannot even enjoy them.
19 “For he has aoppressed and forsaken the poor;
He has seized a house which he has not built.
20 “Because he knew no quiet 1within him,
He does anot retain anything he desires.
21 “Nothing remains 1for him to devour,
Therefore ahis prosperity does not endure.
22 “In the fullness of his plenty he will be cramped;
The ahand of everyone who suffers will come against him.
23 “When he afills his belly,
God will send His fierce anger on him
And will brain it on him 1while he is eating.
24 “He may aflee from the iron weapon,
But the bronze bow will pierce him.
25 “It is drawn forth and comes out of his back,
Even the glittering point from ahis gall.
bTerrors come upon him,
26 Complete adarkness is held in reserve for his treasures,
And unfanned bfire will devour him;
It will consume the survivor in his tent.
27 “The aheavens will reveal his iniquity,
And the earth will rise up against him.
28 “The aincrease of his house will depart;
His possessions will flow away bin the day of His anger.
29 “This is the wicked man’s aportion from God,
Even the heritage decreed to him by God.”