Job 16:11–20:11

11  God †hath delivered me to the qungodly,

And rturned me over into the hands of the wicked.

12  I was at ease, but he hath sbroken me asunder:

He hath also taken me by my neck, and tshaken me to pieces,

And set me up for his umark.

13  His warchers compass me round about,

He cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare;

He xpoureth out my gall upon the ground.

14  He breaketh me with ybreach upon breach,

He runneth upon me like a giant.

15  I have sewed zsackcloth upon my gskin,

And adefiled my horn in the dust.

16  My face bis foul with weeping,

And on my eyelids is cthe shadow of death;

17  dNot for any injustice in mine hands:

Also my prayer is pure.

18  O earth, ecover not thou my blood,

And let fmy cry have no place.

19  Also now, behold, gmy witness is in heaven,

And my record is †on high.

20  My friends †scorn me:

But mine eye poureth out tears unto God.

21  O that one might hplead for a man with God,

As a man pleadeth for his ||neighbour!

22  When †a few years are come,

Then I shall go the way whence I shall not return.

17 ||My breath is corrupt,

My days are aextinct,

bThe graves are ready for me.

2  Are there not mockers with me?

And doth not mine eye †continue in their provocation?

3  Lay down now, cput me in a surety with thee;

Who is he that dwill strike hands with me?

4  For thou hast hid their heart from understanding:

Therefore shalt thou not exalt them.

5  He that speaketh flattery to his friends,

Even ethe eyes of his children shall fail.

6  He hath made me also fa byword of the people;

And ||aforetime I was as a tabret.

7  gMine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow,

And all ||my members are has a shadow.

8  Upright men shall be iastonied at this,

And the innocent shall jstir up himself against the hypocrite.

9  The righteous also shall hold on his way,

And he that hath kclean hands †shall be stronger and stronger.

10  But as for you all, ldo ye return, and come now:

For I cannot find one wise man among you.

11  mMy days are past,

My purposes are nbroken off,

Even †the thoughts of my heart.

12  oThey change the night into day:

pThe light is †short qbecause of darkness.

13  If I wait, the grave is mine rhouse:

I have made my bed in the darkness.

14  I have †said to corruption, Thou art my father:

To the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.

15  And where is now my hope?

As for my hope, who shall see it?

16  They shall go down to the sbars of the pit,

tWhen our urest xtogether is in the dust.

18 Then answered aBildad the Shuhite, and said,

2  bHow long will it be ere ye make an end of words?

Mark, and afterwards we will speak.

3  Wherefore are we counted cas beasts,

And reputed vile in your sight?

4  He dteareth †himself in his anger:

Shall the earth be forsaken for thee?

And shall ethe rock be removed out of his place?

5  Yea, fthe light of the wicked shall be put out,

And the spark of his fire shall not shine.

6  The light shall be dark in his gtabernacle,

And his f||candle shall be put out hwith him.

7  The steps of his strength shall be straitened,

And ihis own counsel shall cast him down.

8  For he jis cast into ka net by his own feet,

And he walketh upon a snare.

9  lThe gin shall take him by the heel,

And mthe robber shall prevail against him.

10  The nsnare is †laid for him in the ground,

And a trap for him in the way.

11  oTerrors shall make him afraid on every side,

And shall †drive him pto his feet.

12  His strength shall be hungerbitten,

And destruction shall be qrready rat his side.

13  It shall devour the †strength of shis skin:

Even tthe firstborn of death shall devour his †strength.

14  uHis confidence shall be xrooted out of his gtabernacle,

And it shall bring him to ythe king of terrors.

15  It shall dwell in his gtabernacle, because it is none of his:

zBrimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.

16  His aroots shall be dried up beneath,

And above shall his branch be bcut off.

17  cHis remembrance shall perish from the earth,

And he shall have no name din the street.

18  †He shall be driven from light into darkness,

And chased out of the world.

19  He shall neither have eson nor fnephew among his people,

Nor gany remaining in his hdwellings.

20  They that come after him shall be astonied at ihis day,

As they that ||went before †were affrighted.

21  Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked,

And this is the place of him that kknoweth not God.

19 Then Job answered and said,

2  How long will ye vex my soul,

And break me in pieces with words?

3  These aten times have ye reproached me:

Ye are not ashamed that ye ||make yourselves strange to me.

4  And be it indeed that I have erred,

Mine error remaineth with myself.

5  If indeed ye will bmagnify yourselves against me,

And plead against me my reproach:

6  Know now that God hath coverthrown me,

And hath compassed me with his net.

7  Behold, dI cry out of ||wrong, but I am not heard:

dI cry aloud, but there is no judgment.

8  eHe hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass,

And he hath set darkness in my paths.

9  fHe hath stripped me of my glory,

And taken gthe crown from my head.

10  He hath destroyed me on every side, and hI am gone:

And mine hope hath he removed like a tree.

11  He hath also kindled his wrath against me,

And he icounteth me unto him as one of his enemies.

12  jHis troops come together,

And kraise up their way against me,

And encamp round about my ltabernacle.

13  He hath put my mbrethren far from me,

And mine nacquaintance are verily estranged from me.

14  My okinsfolk have failed,

And my pfamiliar friends have forgotten me.

15  They that qdwell in mine house, and my maids,

Count me for a stranger:

I am an alien in their sight.

16  I called my servant, and he gave me no answer;

I intreated him with my mouth.

17  rMy breath is strange to my wife,

Though I intreated for the children’s sake of †mine own body.

18  Yea, ||young children despised me;

I arose, and sthey spake against me.

19  tAll †my inward friends abhorred me:

And they whom I loved are turned against me.

20  uMy bone cleaveth to my skin ||and to my flesh,

And I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.

21  xHave pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends;

For ythe hand of God hath touched me.

22  Why do ye zpersecute me as God,

And aare not satisfied with my flesh?

23  †Oh that my words were now written!

Oh that they bwere printed in a cbook!

24  That they were graven dwith an iron pen and lead

In the rock efor ever!

25  For fI know that my gredeemer liveth,

And that he shall stand at hthe latter day iupon the earth:

26  ||And though after my skin worms kdestroy this body,

Yet lin my flesh shall I see God:

27  Whom I shall see mfor myself,

And mine eyes shall behold, and not †another;

||Though my reins nbe consumed †within me.

28  oBut ye should say, Why ppersecute we him,

||Seeing the root of the matter is found in me?

29  Be ye afraid of qthe sword:

For wrath bringeth rthe punishments of the sword,

That ye may know sthere is a judgment.

20 Then answered aZophar the Naamathite, and said,

2  Therefore do my bthoughts cause me to answer,

And for this †I make haste.

3  I have heard cthe check of my reproach,

And the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer.

4  Knowest thou not this dof old,

eSince man was placed upon earth,

5  fThat the gtriumphing of the wicked is †short,

And the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?

6  hThough his excellency mount up to the heavens,

And his head reach unto the †clouds;

7  Yet he shall perish ifor ever klike his own dung:

They which have seen him shall say, lWhere is he?

8  He shall fly away mas a dream, and shall not be found:

Yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.

9  nThe eye also which saw him oshall see him no more;

Neither shall his place any more behold him.

10  ||His children shall seek to please the poor,

And his hands pshall restore their goods.

11  His bones are full of the sin of his youth,

Which qshall lie down with him in the dust.