Job 19

¹But Job answered by saying

²How long will you afflict my soul and wear me down with words

³So, ten times you confound me and are not ashamed to oppress me

⁴Now, of course, if I have been ignorant, my ignorance will be with me

⁵But you have risen up against me, and you accuse me to my disgrace

⁶At least now you should understand that God has not afflicted me with a balanced judgment, though he has encompassed me with his scourges

⁷Behold, I will cry out, enduring violence, and no one will hear. I will announce loudly, but there is no one who may judge

⁸He has hemmed in my path, and I cannot pass; he has added darkness to my difficult path

⁹He has plundered me of my glory, and he has stolen the crown from my head

¹⁰He has destroyed me on every side, and I am lost, and, like an uprooted tree, he has taken away my hope

¹¹His fury has raged against me, and in this way he has treated me like his enemy

¹²His troops have gathered together, and they have made their way to me, and they have besieged my tabernacle all around

¹³He has put my brothers far from me, and my friends have withdrawn from me like strangers

¹⁴My kinsmen have forsaken me, and those who knew me, have forgotten me

¹⁵The inhabitants of my house and my maidservants treat me just as if I were a stranger, and I have been like a sojourner in their eyes

¹⁶I called my servant, and he did not respond; I pleaded with him with my own mouth

¹⁷My wife has shuddered at my breath, and I have begged the sons of my loins

¹⁸Even the foolish have looked down on me, and, when I withdrew from them, they spoke ill of me

¹⁹Those who were sometimes my counselors, treat me like an abomination; and he whom I valued the most has turned against me

²⁰Since my flesh has been consumed, my bone adheres to my skin, and only my lips have been left around my teeth

²¹Have mercy on me, have compassion on me, at least you my friends, because the hand of the Lord has touched me

²²Why do you pursue me just as God does, and satiate yourselves with my flesh

²³Who will grant to me that my words may be written down? Who will grant to me that they may be inscribed in a book

²⁴with an iron pen and a plate of lead, or else be carved in stone

²⁵For I know that my Redeemer lives, and on the last day I will rise out of the earth

²⁶And I will be enveloped again with my skin, and in my flesh I will see my God

²⁷It is he whom I myself will see, and he whom my eyes will behold, and no other. This, my hope, has taken rest in my bosom

²⁸Why then do you now say: “Let us pursue him, and let us find a basis to speak against him?

²⁹So then, flee from the face of the sword, for the sword is the avenger of iniquities; but know this: there is to be a judgment