Job’s Reply to Bildad41
19:1 Then Job answered and said,
19:2 How long will you torment me1
and crush2
me with words?3
19:3 These ten times4
you have been reproaching me;5
you are not ashamed to attack me.6
19:4 But even if it were7
true that I have erred,8
my error9
remains my concern alone!
19:5 If indeed10
you would exalt yourselves11
above me
and plead my disgrace against me,12
19:6 know13
then that God has wronged me14
and drawn15
his net16
around me.
Job’s Abandonment and Affliction
19:7 If17
I cry out,18
“Violence!”19
I receive no answer;20
I cry for help, but there is no justice.
19:8 He has blocked21
my way so I cannot pass,
and over my paths he has set darkness.22
19:9 He has stripped me of my honor
and removed the crown from my head.23
19:10 He tears me down24
on every side until I perish;25
he uproots26
my hope27
like a tree;
19:11 his anger burns against me;
and he counts me among his enemies,28
19:12 his troops29
advance together;
they throw up30
a siege road against me,
and they camp around my tent.
Job’s Forsaken State
19:13 He has put my brothers far from me;
my acquaintances only31
turn away from me.
19:14 My kinsmen have gone away,
my friends32
have forgotten me.33
19:15 My guests34
and my servant girls
think35
of me as a stranger;
I am an alien36
in their eyes.
19:16 I summon37
my servant, but he does not answer,
even though I implore him with my own mouth.
19:17 My breath is offensive38
to my wife;
I am loathsome39
to my brothers.40
19:18 Even youngsters have scorned me;
when I get up,41
they scoff at me.42
19:19 All my intimate friends43
detest me;
and those whom44
I love
have turned against me.45
19:20 My bones stick to my skin and my flesh;46
I have escaped47
with only the skin of my teeth.
19:21 Have pity on me, my friends, have pity,
for the hand of God has struck me.
19:22 Why do you pursue me as God does?48
Will you never get enough of my flesh?49
Job’s Assurance of Vindication
19:23 O that50
my words were written down,
O that they were written on a scroll,51
19:24 that with an iron tool and lead52
they were engraved in a rock forever.
19:25 As for me, I know that my Redeemer53
lives,
and that as the Last54
he will stand upon the earth,55
19:26 And after my skin has been destroyed,56
yet in my flesh57
I will see God;58
19:27 Whom I will see for myself,59
and whom my own eyes will behold,
and not another.60
My heart61
grows faint within me.62
19:28 If you say, “How we will pursue him,
since the root of the trouble is found in him!”63
19:29 Fear for yourselves the sword;
for wrath64
brings the punishment65
by the sword,
so that you may know
that there is judgment.66