Job 19–20

Job

19Then Job replied:

²“How long will you torment^o me

and crush^p me with words?

³Ten times^q now you have reproached^r me;

shamelessly you attack me.

⁴If it is true that I have gone astray,

my error^s remains my concern alone.

⁵If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me^t

and use my humiliation against me,

⁶then know that God has wronged me^u

and drawn his net^v around me.^w

⁷“Though I cry, ‘Violence!’ I get no response;^x

though I call for help,^y there is no justice.^z

⁸He has blocked my way so I cannot pass;^a

he has shrouded my paths in darkness.^b

⁹He has stripped^c me of my honor^d

and removed the crown from my head.^e

¹⁰He tears me down^f on every side till I am gone;

he uproots my hope^g like a tree.^h

¹¹His angerⁱ burns against me;

he counts me among his enemies.^j

¹²His troops advance in force;^k

they build a siege ramp^l against me

and encamp around my tent.^m

¹³“He has alienated my familyⁿ from me;

my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.^o

¹⁴My relatives have gone away;

my closest friends^p have forgotten me.

¹⁵My guests^q and my female servants^r count me a foreigner;

they look on me as on a stranger.

¹⁶I summon my servant, but he does not answer,

though I beg him with my own mouth.

¹⁷My breath is offensive to my wife;

I am loathsome^s to my own family.

¹⁸Even the little boys^t scorn me;

when I appear, they ridicule me.^u

¹⁹All my intimate friends^v detest me;^w

those I love have turned against me.^x

²⁰I am nothing but skin and bones;^y

I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.^a

²¹“Have pity on me, my friends,^z have pity,

for the hand of God has struck^a me.

²²Why do you pursue^b me as God does?^c

Will you never get enough of my flesh?^d

²³“Oh, that my words were recorded,

that they were written on a scroll,^e

²⁴that they were inscribed with an iron tool^f on^b lead,

or engraved in rock forever!^g

²⁵I know that my redeemer^ch lives,ⁱ

and that in the end he will stand on the earth.^d

²⁶And after my skin has been destroyed,

yet^e in^f my flesh I will see God;^j

²⁷I myself will see him

with my own eyes^k—I, and not another.

How my heart yearns^l within me!

²⁸“If you say, ‘How we will hound^m him,

since the root of the trouble lies in him,^g’

²⁹you should fear the sword yourselves;

for wrath will bring punishment by the sword,ⁿ

and then you will know that there is judgment.^h”^o

Zophar

20Then Zophar the Naamathite^p replied:

²“My troubled thoughts prompt me to answer

because I am greatly disturbed.^q

³I hear a rebuke^r that dishonors me,

and my understanding inspires me to reply.

⁴“Surely you know how it has been from of old,^s

ever since mankind^a was placed on the earth,

⁵that the mirth of the wicked^t is brief,

the joy of the godless^u lasts but a moment.^v

⁶Though the pride^w of the godless person reaches to the heavens^x

and his head touches the clouds,^y

⁷he will perish forever,^z like his own dung;

those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’^a

⁸Like a dream^b he flies away,^c no more to be found,

banished^d like a vision of the night.^e

⁹The eye that saw him will not see him again;

his place will look on him no more.^f

¹⁰His children^g must make amends to the poor;

his own hands must give back his wealth.^h

¹¹The youthful vigorⁱ that fills his bones^j

will lie with him in the dust.^k

¹²“Though evil^l is sweet in his mouth

and he hides it under his tongue,^m

¹³though he cannot bear to let it go

and lets it linger in his mouth,ⁿ

¹⁴yet his food will turn sour in his stomach;^o

it will become the venom of serpents^p within him.

¹⁵He will spit out the riches^q he swallowed;

God will make his stomach vomit^r them up.

¹⁶He will suck the poison^s of serpents;

the fangs of an adder will kill him.^t

¹⁷He will not enjoy the streams,

the rivers^u flowing with honey^v and cream.^w

¹⁸What he toiled for he must give back uneaten;^x

he will not enjoy the profit from his trading.^y

¹⁹For he has oppressed the poor^z and left them destitute;^a

he has seized houses^b he did not build.

²⁰“Surely he will have no respite from his craving;^c

he cannot save himself by his treasure.^d

²¹Nothing is left for him to devour;

his prosperity will not endure.^e

²²In the midst of his plenty, distress will overtake him;^f

the full force of misery will come upon him.^g

²³When he has filled his belly,^h

God will vent his burning angerⁱ against him

and rain down his blows on him.^j

²⁴Though he flees^k from an iron weapon,

a bronze-tipped arrow pierces him.^l

²⁵He pulls it out of his back,

the gleaming point out of his liver.

Terrors^m will come over him;ⁿ

²⁶total darkness^o lies in wait for his treasures.

A fire^p unfanned will consume him^q

and devour what is left in his tent.^r

²⁷The heavens will expose his guilt;

the earth will rise up against him.^s

²⁸A flood will carry off his house,^t

rushing waters^b on the day of God’s wrath.^u

²⁹Such is the fate God allots the wicked,

the heritage appointed for them by God.”^v