Job 19

Chapter 19

Job’s Sixth Speech: A Response to Bildad

1 Then Job spoke again:
2 “How long will you torture me?
How long will you try to crush me with your words?3 You have already insulted me ten times.
You should be ashamed of treating me so badly.4 Even if I have sinned,
that is my concern, not yours.5 You think you’re better than I am,
using my humiliation as evidence of my sin.6 But it is God who has wronged me,
capturing me in his net.t7 “I cry out, ‘Help!’ but no one answers me.
I protest, but there is no justice.8 God has blocked my way so I cannot move.
He has plunged my path into darkness.9 He has stripped me of my honor
and removed the crown from my head.10 He has demolished me on every side, and I am finished.
He has uprooted my hope like a fallen tree.11 His fury burns against me;
he counts me as an enemy.12 His troops advance.
They build up roads to attack me.
They camp all around my tent.13 “My relatives stay far away,
and my friends have turned against me.14 My family is gone,
and my close friends have forgotten me.15 My servants and maids consider me a stranger.
I am like a foreigner to them.16 When I call my servant, he doesn’t come;
I have to plead with him!17 My breath is repulsive to my wife.
I am rejected by my own family.18 Even young children despise me.
When I stand to speak, they turn their backs on me.19 My close friends detest me.
Those I loved have turned against me.20 I have been reduced to skin and bones
and have escaped death by the skin of my teeth.21 “Have mercy on me, my friends, have mercy,
for the hand of God has struck me.22 Must you also persecute me, like God does?
Haven’t you chewed me up enough?23 “Oh, that my words could be recorded.
Oh, that they could be inscribed on a monument,24 carved with an iron chisel and filled with lead,
engraved forever in the rock.25 “But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
and he will stand upon the earth at last.26 And after my body has decayed,
yet in my body I will see God!t27 I will see him for myself.
Yes, I will see him with my own eyes.
I am overwhelmed at the thought!28 “How dare you go on persecuting me,
saying, ‘It’s his own fault’?29 You should fear punishment yourselves,
for your attitude deserves punishment.
Then you will know that there is indeed a judgment.”

JOB 19

Job's Reply to Bildad

How Long Will You //Torture Me?

1 Job said:

2 How long will you torture me
with your words?

3 Isn't ten times enough
for you to accuse me?
Aren't you ashamed?

4 Even if I have sinned,
you haven't been harmed.

5 You boast of your goodness,
claiming I am suffering
because I am guilty.

6 But God is the one at fault
for finding fault with me.

7 Though I pray to be rescued
from this torment,
no whisper of justice
answers me.

8 God has me trapped
with a wall of darkness

9 and stripped of respect.

10 God rips me apart,
uproots my hopes,

11 and attacks with fierce anger,
as though I were his enemy.

12 His entire army advances,
then surrounds my tent.

I Am Forgotten

13 God has turned relatives
and friends against me,

14 and I am forgotten.

15 My guests and my servants
consider me a stranger,

16 and when I call my servants,
they pay no attention.

17 My breath disgusts my wife;
everyone in my family
turns away.

18 Young children can't stand me,
and when I come near,
they make fun.

19  t My best friends and loved ones
have turned from me.

20 I am skin and bones—
just barely alive.

21 My friends, I beg you for pity!
God has made me his target.

22 Hasn't he already done enough?
Why do you join the attack?

23 I wish that my words
could be written down

24 or chiseled into rock.

25 I know that my Protector t lives,
and at the end
he will stand on this earth.

26 My flesh may be destroyed,
yet from this body
I will see God.t

27 Yes, I will see him for myself,
and I long for that moment.

28 My friends, you think up ways
to blame and torment me, saying
I brought it on myself.

29 But watch out for the judgment,
when God will punish you!