Job 19:1–21:34

1  And Job answered and said, 2  How long will ye vex my soul, and crush me with words? 3  These ten times have ye reproached me; ye are not ashamed to stupefy me. 4  And be it that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself. 5  If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, and prove against me my reproach, 6  Know now that †God hath overthrown me, and hath surrounded me with his net. 7  Behold, I cry out of wrong, and I am not heard; I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.

8  He hath hedged up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths. 9  He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head. 10  He breaketh me down on every side, and I am gone; and my hope hath he torn up as a tree. 11  And he hath kindled his anger against me, and hath counted me unto him as one of his enemies. 12  His troops have come together and cast up their way against me, and have encamped round about my tent. 13  He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are quite estranged from me. 14  My kinsfolk have failed, and my known friends have forgotten me. 15  The sojourners in my house and my maids count me as a stranger; I am an alien in their sight. 16  I called my servant, and he answered not; I entreated him with my mouth. 17  My breath is strange to my wife, and my entreaties to the children of my mother’s womb. 18  Even young children despise me; I rise up, and they speak against me. 19  All my intimate friends abhor me, and they whom I loved are turned against me. 20  My bones cleave to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth. 21  Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, ye my friends; for the hand of †God hath touched me. 22  Why do ye persecute me as •God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?

23  Oh would that my words were written! oh that they were inscribed in a book! 24  That with an iron style and lead they were graven in the rock for ever! 25  And as for me, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and the Last, he shall stand upon the earth; 26  And if after my skin this shall be destroyed, yet from out of my flesh shall I see †God; 27  Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another: —my reins are consumed within me. 28  If ye say, How shall we persecute him? when the root of the matter is found in me, 29  Be ye yourselves afraid of the sword! for the sword is fury against misdeeds, that ye may know there is a judgment.

Chapter 20

1  And Zophar the Naamathite answered and said, 2  Therefore do my thoughts give me an answer, and for this is my haste within me. 3  I hear a reproof putting me to shame; and my spirit answereth me by mine understanding. 4  Knowest thou not this, that of old, since man was placed upon earth, 5  The exultation of the wicked is short, and the joy of the ungodly man but for a moment? 6  Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds, 7  Like his own dung doth he perish for ever; they which have seen him shall say, Where is he? 8  He flieth away as a dream, and is not found; and is chased away as a vision of the night. 9  The eye which saw him shall see him not again; and his place beholdeth him no more.

10  His children shall seek the favour of the poor, and his hands restore his wealth. 11  His bones were full of his youthful strength; but it shall lie down with him in the dust. 12  Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth and he hide it under his tongue, 13  Though he spare it, and forsake it not, but keep it within his mouth, 14  His food is turned in his bowels; it is the gall of asps within him. 15  He hath swallowed down riches, but he shall vomit them up again: •God shall cast them out of his belly. 16  He shall suck the poison of asps; the viper’s tongue shall kill him. 17  He shall not see streams, rivers, brooks of honey and butter. 18  That which he laboured for shall he restore, and not swallow down; its restitution shall be according to the value, and he shall not rejoice therein. 19  For he hath oppressed, hath forsaken the poor; he hath violently taken away a house that he did not build. 20  Because he knew no rest in his craving, he shall save nought of what he most desired. 21  Nothing escaped his greediness; therefore his prosperity shall not endure. 22  In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits; every hand of the wretched shall come upon him.

23  It shall be that, to fill his belly, he will cast his fierce anger upon him, and will rain it upon him into his flesh. 24  If he have fled from the iron weapon, the bow of brass shall strike him through. 25  He draweth it forth; it cometh out of his body, and the glittering point out of his gall: terrors are upon him. 26  All darkness is laid up for his treasures: a fire not blown shall devour him; it shall feed upon what is left in his tent. 27  The heavens shall reveal his iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against him. 28  The increase of his house shall depart, flowing away in the day of his anger. 29  This is the portion of the wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed to him by •God.

Chapter 21

1  And Job answered and said, 2  Hear attentively my speech, and let this replace your consolations. 3  Suffer me and I will speak; and after I have spoken, mock on! 4  As for me, is my complaint to a man? or wherefore should not my spirit be impatient? 5  Mark me, and be astonished, and lay the hand upon the mouth. 6  Even when I think thereon, I am affrighted, and trembling taketh hold of my flesh.

7  Wherefore do the wicked live, grow old, yea, become mighty in power? 8  Their seed is established with them in their sight, and their offspring before their eyes. 9  Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of †God upon them. 10  Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf. 11  They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. 12  They shout to the tambour and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe. 13  They spend their days in prosperity, and in a moment go down to Sheol. 14  And they say unto •God, Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways! 15  What is the Almighty that we should serve him? and what are we profited if we pray unto him? 16  Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand. The counsel of the wicked be far from me!

17  How often is the lamp of the wicked put out, and cometh their calamity upon them? Doth he distribute sorrows to them in his anger? 18  Do they become as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away? 19  †God layeth up the punishment of his iniquity for his children; he rewardeth him, and he shall know it: 20  His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the fury of the Almighty. 21  For what pleasure should he have in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off? 22  Can any teach •God knowledge? And he it is that judgeth those that are high. 23  One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet; 24  His sides are full of fat, and the marrow of his bones is moistened; 25  And another dieth in bitterness of soul, and hath not tasted good: 26  Together they lie down in the dust, and the worms cover them.

27  Lo, I know your thoughts, and the devices ye wrongfully imagine against me. 28  For ye say, Where is the house of the noble? and where the tent of the dwellings of the wicked? 29  Have ye not asked the wayfarers? and do ye not regard their tokens: 30  That the wicked is reserved for the day of calamity? They are led forth to the day of wrath. 31  Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done? 32  Yet is he carried to the graves, and watch is kept over the tomb. 33  The clods of the valley are sweet unto him; and every man followeth suit after him, as there were innumerable before him. 34  How then comfort ye me in vain? Your answers remain perfidious.