1Then Job replied:2‘How long will you torment me and crush me with words?3Ten times now you have reproached me; shamelessly you attack me.4If it is true that I have gone astray, my error remains my concern alone.5If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me and use my humiliation against me,6then know that God has wronged me and drawn his net around me.7‘Though I cry, “Violence!” I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.8He has blocked my way so that I cannot pass; he has shrouded my paths in darkness.9He has stripped me of my honour and removed the crown from my head.10He tears me down on every side till I am gone; he uproots my hope like a tree.11His anger burns against me; he counts me among his enemies.12His troops advance in force; they build a siege ramp against me and encamp around my tent.13‘He has alienated my family from me; my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.14My relatives have gone away; my closest friends have forgotten me.15My guests and my female servants count me a foreigner; they look upon me as 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 to my own family.18Even the little boys scorn me; when I appear, they ridicule me.19All my intimate friends detest me; those I love have turned against me.20I am nothing but skin and bones; I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.[1]21‘Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me.22Why do you pursue me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh?23‘Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll,24that they were inscribed with an iron tool on[2] lead, or engraved in rock for ever!25I know that my redeemer[3] lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth.[4]26And after my skin has been destroyed, yet[5] in[6] my flesh I will see God;27I myself will see him with my own eyes – I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!28‘If you say, “How we will hound him, since the root of the trouble lies in him,[7]”29you should fear the sword yourselves; for wrath will bring punishment by the sword, and then you will know that there is judgment.[8]’
Job 19
English Standard Version
Job Replies: My Redeemer Lives
1Then Job answered and said:2“How long will you torment me and break me in pieces with words?3These ten times you have cast reproach upon me; are you not ashamed to wrong me? (Ge 31:7)4And even if it be true that I have erred, my error remains with myself.5If indeed you magnify yourselves against me and make my disgrace an argument against me, (Ps 35:26; Ps 38:16; Ps 55:12)6know then that God has put me in the wrong and closed his net about me. (Job 8:3; Job 34:12; La 3:36)7Behold, I cry out, ‘Violence!’ but I am not answered; I call for help, but there is no justice. (Job 24:12; La 3:8; Hab 1:2)8He has walled up my way, so that I cannot pass, and he has set darkness upon my paths. (Job 3:23; Job 13:27; La 3:7; La 3:9; Ho 2:6)9He has stripped from me my glory and taken the crown from my head. (Job 29:14; Ps 89:39; Ps 89:44; La 5:16)10He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone, and my hope has he pulled up like a tree. (Job 10:21; Job 14:20; Job 27:21)11He has kindled his wrath against me and counts me as his adversary. (Job 13:24)12His troops come on together; they have cast up their siege ramp[1] against me and encamp around my tent. (Job 10:17; Job 25:2; Job 30:12)13“He has put my brothers far from me, and those who knew me are wholly estranged from me. (Job 6:15; Ps 31:11; Ps 69:8; Ps 88:8; Ps 88:18)14My relatives have failed me, my close friends have forgotten me. (Ps 38:11; Ps 55:13)15The guests in my house and my maidservants count me as a stranger; I have become a foreigner in their eyes. (Ge 17:27; Mt 10:36)16I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer; I must plead with him with my mouth for mercy.17My breath is strange to my wife, and I am a stench to the children of my own mother. (Job 2:9; Job 3:10)18Even young children despise me; when I rise they talk against me. (2Ki 2:23)19All my intimate friends abhor me, and those whom I loved have turned against me. (Ps 41:9; Ps 55:13)20My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. (Ps 102:5; La 4:8)21Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me! (Job 1:11; Isa 53:4)22Why do you, like God, pursue me? Why are you not satisfied with my flesh? (Ps 69:26)23“Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! (Isa 30:8)24Oh that with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever! (Jer 17:1)25For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.[2] (Ge 48:16; Job 30:23; Job 41:33; Ps 19:14; Ps 103:4; Isa 43:14; Isa 44:6; Isa 44:24; Isa 49:7; 1Th 1:10)26And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in[3] my flesh I shall see God, (Ps 17:15; 1Co 13:12; 1Jo 3:2)27whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me! (Ps 73:26; Pr 27:2)28If you say, ‘How we will pursue him!’ and, ‘The root of the matter is found in him,’[4] (Job 19:22)29be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishment of the sword, that you may know there is a judgment.” (Ps 58:11; Ec 12:14)