Job 19–20

Chapter 19

Job Feels Insulted

¹Then 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,

⁶Know then that ^aGod has wronged me

And has closed ^bHis net around me.

Everything Is against Him

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.

¹⁴“My relatives have failed,

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?

Job Says, “My Redeemer Lives”

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;

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 ‘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.”

Chapter 20

Zophar Says, “The Triumph of the Wicked Is Short”

¹Then 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,

⁵That 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,

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 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,

¹³Though he ¹desires it and will not let it go,

But holds it ^ain his ²mouth,

¹⁴Yet his food in his stomach is changed

To the ¹venom of cobras within him.

¹⁵“He swallows riches,

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,

²⁶Complete ^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.”