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19:1  Job replied,
19:2  “How long will you people make me suffer? How long will you crush me with your words?
19:3  You have already accused me many times. You have attacked me without feeling any shame.
19:4  Suppose it’s true that I’ve gone down the wrong path. Then it’s my concern, not yours.
19:5  Suppose you want to place yourselves above me. Suppose you want to use my shame to prove I’m wrong.
19:6  Then I want you to know that God hasn’t treated me right. In fact, he has captured me in his net.
19:7  “I cry out, ‘Someone harmed me!’ But I don’t get any reply. I call out for help. But I’m not treated fairly.
19:8  God 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.
19:9  He has taken my wealth away from me. He has stripped me of my honor.
19:10  He tears me down on every side until I’m gone. He pulls up the roots of my hope as if I were a tree.
19:11  His anger burns against me. He thinks I’m one of his enemies.
19:12  His troops march toward me in force. They come at me from every direction. They camp around my tent.
19:13  “God has caused my family to desert me. The people I used to know are now strangers to me.
19:14  My relatives have gone away. My closest friends have forgotten me.
19:15  My guests and my female servants think of me as a stranger. They look at me as if I were an outsider.
19:16  I send for my servant, but he doesn’t answer. He doesn’t come, even though I beg him to.
19:17  My wife can’t stand the way my breath smells. My own family won’t have anything to do with me.
19:18  Even little children mock me. When I appear, they make fun of me.
19:19  All my close friends hate me. Those I love have turned against me.
19:20  I’m nothing but skin and bones. I’ve barely escaped death.
19:21  “Have pity on me, my friends! Please have pity! God has struck me down with his powerful hand.
19:22  Why do you chase after me as he does? Aren’t you satisfied with what you have done to me already?
19:23  “I wish my words were written down! I wish they were written in a book!
19:24  I wish they were cut into lead with an iron tool! I wish they were carved in rock forever!
19:25  I know that my redeemer lives. In the end he will stand on the earth.
19:26  Though my skin will be destroyed, in my body I’ll see God.
19:27  I 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!
19:28  “You might say, ‘Let’s keep bothering Job. After all, he’s the cause of all his suffering.’
19:29  But 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.”