Job 19

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