Job 19

Job

Then Job replied:

“How long will you torment^a me

and crush^b me with words?

Ten times^c now you have reproached^d me;

shamelessly you attack me.

If it is true that I have gone astray,

my error^e remains my concern alone.

If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me^f

and use my humiliation against me,

then know that God has wronged me^g

and drawn his net^h around me.ⁱ

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

though I call for help,^k there is no justice.^l

He has blocked my way so I cannot pass;^m

he has shrouded my paths in darkness.ⁿ

He has stripped^o me of my honor^p

and removed the crown from my head.^q

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

he uproots my hope^s like a tree.^t

His anger^u burns against me;

he counts me among his enemies.^v

His troops advance in force;^w

they build a siege ramp^x against me

and encamp around my tent.^y

“He has alienated my family^z from me;

my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.^a

My relatives have gone away;

my friends^b have forgotten me.

My guests^c and my female servants^d count me a foreigner;

they look on me as on a stranger.

I summon my servant, but he does not answer,

though I beg him with my own mouth.

My breath is offensive to my wife;

I am loathsome^e to my own family.

Even the little boys^f scorn me;

when I appear, they ridicule me.^g

All my intimate friends^h detest me;ⁱ

those I love have turned against me.^j

I am nothing but skin and bones;^k

I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.

“Have pity on me, my friends,^l have pity,

for the hand of God has struck^m me.

Why do you pursueⁿ me as God does?^o

Will you never get enough of my flesh?^p

“Oh, that my words were recorded,

that they were written on a scroll,^q

that they were inscribed with an iron tool^r on lead,

or engraved in rock forever!^s

I know that my redeemer^t lives,^u

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

And after my skin has been destroyed,

yet in my flesh I will see God;^v

I myself will see him

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

How my heart yearns^x within me!

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

since the root of the trouble lies in him,’

you should fear the sword yourselves;

for wrath will bring punishment by the sword,^z

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