Job 19–20

Job’s Reply

19Job replied,

²“How long will you people make me suffer?

How long will you crush me with your words?

³You have already made fun of me many times.

You have attacked me without feeling any shame.

⁴Suppose it’s true that I’ve gone down the wrong path.

Then it’s my concern, not yours.

⁵Suppose you want to place yourselves above me.

Suppose you want to use my shame to prove I’m wrong.

⁶Then I want you to know that God hasn’t treated me right.

In fact, he has captured me in his net.

⁷“I cry out, ‘Someone harmed me!’

But I don’t get any reply.

I call out for help.

But I’m not treated fairly.

⁸God has blocked my way, and I can’t get through.

He has made my paths so dark I can’t see where I’m going.

⁹He has taken my wealth away from me.

He has stripped me of my honor.

¹⁰He tears me down on every side until I’m gone.

He pulls up the roots of my hope as if I were a tree.

¹¹His anger burns against me.

He thinks I’m one of his enemies.

¹²His troops march toward me in force.

They come at me from every direction.

They camp around my tent.

¹³“God has caused my brothers to desert me.

The people I used to know are now strangers to me.

¹⁴My family has gone away.

My friends have forgotten me.

¹⁵My guests and my female servants think of me as a stranger.

They look at me as if I were an outsider.

¹⁶I send for my servant, but he doesn’t answer.

He doesn’t come, even though I beg him to.

¹⁷My wife can’t stand the way my breath smells.

My own relatives won’t have anything to do with me.

¹⁸Even little children laugh at me.

When I appear, they make fun of me.

¹⁹All of my close friends hate me.

Those I love have turned against me.

²⁰I’m nothing but skin and bones.

I’ve only escaped by the skin of my teeth.

²¹“Have pity on me, my friends! Please have pity!

God has struck me down with his powerful hand.

²²Why do you chase after me as he does?

Aren’t you satisfied with what you have done to me already?

²³“I wish my words were written down!

I wish they were written on a scroll!

²⁴I wish they were cut into lead with an iron tool!

I wish they were carved in rock forever!

²⁵I know that my Redeemer lives.

In the end he will stand on the earth.

²⁶After my skin has been destroyed,

in my body I’ll still see God.

²⁷I myself will see him with my own eyes.

I’ll see him, and he won’t be a stranger to me.

How my heart longs for that day!

²⁸“You might say, ‘Let’s keep bothering Job.

After all, he’s the cause of all of his suffering.’

²⁹But you should be afraid when God comes to judge you.

He’ll be angry. He’ll punish you with his sword.

Then you will know that he is the Judge.”

The Second Speech of Zophar

20Then Zophar the Naamathite replied,

²“My troubled thoughts force me to answer you.

That’s because I’m very upset.

³What you have just said makes fun of me.

So I really have to reply to you.

⁴“I’m sure you must know how things have always been.

They’ve been that way

ever since man was placed on this earth.

⁵Those who are evil are happy for only a short time.

The joy of ungodly people lasts only for a moment.

⁶Their pride might reach all the way up to the heavens.

Their heads might touch the clouds.

⁷But they will disappear forever,

like the waste from their own bodies.

Anyone who has seen them will say,

‘Where did they go?’

⁸Like a dream they will fly away.

They will never be seen again.

They will be driven away like visions in the night.

⁹The eyes that saw them won’t see them anymore.

Even their own families won’t remember them.

¹⁰Their children must pay back what they took from poor people.

Their own hands must give back the wealth they stole.

¹¹They might feel young and very strong.

But they will soon lie down in the dust of their graves.

¹²“Anything that is evil tastes sweet to them.

They keep it under their tongues for a while.

¹³They can’t stand to let it go.

So they hold it in their mouths.

¹⁴But their food will turn sour in their stomachs.

It will become like the poison of a serpent inside them.

¹⁵They will spit out the rich food they swallowed.

God will make their stomachs throw it up.

¹⁶They will suck the poison of a serpent.

The fangs of an adder will kill them.

¹⁷They won’t enjoy streams that flow with honey.

They won’t enjoy rivers that flow with cream.

¹⁸What they worked for they must give back

before they can eat it.

They won’t enjoy what they have earned.

¹⁹They’ve crushed poor people and left them with nothing.

They’ve taken over houses they didn’t even build.

²⁰“No matter how much they have,

they always long for more.

But their treasure can’t save them.

²¹There isn’t anything left for them to eat up.

Their success won’t last.

²²While they are enjoying the good life,

trouble will catch up with them.

Terrible suffering will come on them.

²³When they’ve filled their stomachs,

God will pour out his burning anger on them.

He’ll strike them down with blow after blow.

²⁴They might run away from iron weapons.

But arrows that have bronze tips will wound them.

²⁵They will pull the arrows out of their backs.

They will remove the shining tips from their livers.

They will be filled with terror.

²⁶Total darkness hides and waits for their treasures.

God will send a fire that will destroy them.

It will burn up everything that’s left in their tents.

²⁷Heaven will show their guilt to everyone.

The earth will be a witness against them.

²⁸A flood will carry their houses away.

Rushing water will wash them away

on the day when God judges.

²⁹Now you know what God will do to sinful people.

Now you know what he has planned for them.”