Job 19–20

CHAPTER 19

My Redeemer Lives

¹Then Job answered and said,

²“How long will you torment my soul

And crush me with words?

³“These ten times you have dishonored me;

You are not ashamed that you wrong me.

⁴“¹Even if I have truly erred,

My error lodges with me.

⁵“If truly you ^amagnify yourselves against me

And argue my disgrace to me,

⁶Know 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 ^bcounted me as His adversary.

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.

¹⁴“My relatives have failed,

And my ^afamiliar friends have forgotten me.

¹⁵“Those who sojourn in my house and my maidservants count 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 reject me;

I rise up, and they speak against me.

¹⁹“All the men of my ^acounsel 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 smitten 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 rise up over the dust of this world.

²⁶“Even after my skin ¹is destroyed,

Yet from my flesh I shall ^abehold God,

²⁷Whom I ¹myself shall behold,

And whom my eyes will see and not another.

My ²heart ^afaints ³within me!

²⁸“If you say, ‘How shall we ^apersecute him?’

‘And the root of the matter is found in ¹him?’

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.”

CHAPTER 20

Zophar Says the Joy of the Wicked Is Short

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said,

²“Therefore my disquieting thoughts make me ¹respond,

Even because of my haste within me.

³“I listened to ^athe discipline which dishonors 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,

⁵That the ^ashouts of joy of the wicked are short,

And ^bthe gladness of the godless momentary?

⁶“Though his loftiness ^agoes up to the heavens,

And his head touches the clouds,

⁷He ^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 seek the favor of 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,

¹³Though he ¹desires it and will not forsake it,

And holds it ^ato his palate,

¹⁴Yet his food in his stomach is changed

To the ¹venom of cobras within him.

¹⁵“He swallows up wealth,

But will ^avomit it up;

God will expel it from his belly.

¹⁶“He sucks ^athe poison of cobras;

The viper’s tongue kills 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 wealth of his trading,

He cannot even enjoy it.

¹⁹“For he has ^acrushed and forsaken the poor;

He has seized a house which he has not built.

²⁰“Because he knew no ease within his belly,

In his covetousness, he does ^anot let anything escape.

²¹“Nothing remains ¹for him to devour;

Therefore ^ahis prosperity does not endure.

²²“In the fullness of his plenty he will be confined;

The ^ahand of everyone who is troubled will come against him.

²³“So it will be that he ^afills his belly,

And God will send His burning 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;

^bBouts of dread come upon him.

²⁶Complete ^adarkness is held in reserve for his treasures;

A ^bfire unfanned 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 inheritance decreed to him by God.”