Job 19

Job’s Sixth Speech: A Response to Bildad

1 Then ^{▼▼Hebrew “And”} Job answered and said,

2 “⌞How long⌟ ^{▼▼Literally “Until when”} will you ^▼▼Plural torment me ^{▼▼Hebrew “my soul,” or “my self”}
and crush me with words?
3 These ten times you ^▼▼Plural have disgraced me;
you ^▼▼Plural are not ashamed that you ^▼▼Plural have attacked ^{▼▼Or “astonished”} me.
4 And what is more, if I have truly erred,
my error remains with me.
5 If indeed you ^▼▼Plural must magnify yourselves against me,
and you ^▼▼Plural must let my disgrace argue against me,
6 know then that God has wronged me
and has surrounded me with his net.
7 “Look, I cry out, ‘Violence!’ but ^{▼▼Or “and”} I am not answered;
I cry out, but ^{▼▼Hebrew “and”} there is no justice.
8 He has walled up my way so that ^{▼▼Hebrew “and”} I cannot pass;
and he has set darkness upon my paths.
9 He has taken my glory from me,
and he has removed the crown of ^{▼▼Or “from”} my head.
10 He has broken me down all around, and I am gone.
And he has uprooted my hope like a tree,
11 and he has kindled his wrath against me,
and ⌞he has counted me as one of his foes⌟. ^{▼▼Literally “he has counted me for him as his foes”}
12 His troops have come together
and have thrown up their rampart ^{▼▼Or “siege works”; compare NRSV} against me
and have encamped around my tent.
13 “He has removed my kinsfolk from me,
and my acquaintances have only ^{▼▼Or “completely”} turned aside from me.
14 My relatives have failed,
and my close friends have forgotten me.
15 The sojourners in ^{▼▼Or “of”} my house and my slave women count me as a stranger;
I have become a foreigner in their eyes.
16 I call to my servant, but ^{▼▼Hebrew “and”} he does not answer;
I must ⌞personally⌟ ^{▼▼Literally “with my mouth”} plead with him.
17 My breath is repulsive to my wife,
and I am loathsome to ⌞my own family⌟. ^{▼▼Literally “to the children of my womb”}
18 Little boys also despise me;
when I rise, then ^{▼▼Hebrew “and”} they talk against me.
19 All ⌞my intimate friends⌟ ^{▼▼Literally “the men of the circle of my confidants”} abhor me,
and these whom I have loved have turned against me.
20 My bones ^{▼▼Collective singular} cling to my skin and to my flesh,
and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21 “Pity me, pity me, you my friends,
for God’s hand has touched me.
22 Why do you ^▼▼Plural pursue me like God?
And are not satisfied with my flesh?
23 “⌞O that⌟ ^{▼▼Literally “Who then shall give and”} my words could be written down!
⌞O that they could be inscribed in a scroll⌟! ^{▼▼Literally “Who shall give in the scroll and they could be inscribed”}
24 That with a pen of iron and with lead
they might be engraved on a rock forever!
25 But ^{▼▼Hebrew “And”} I myself ^{▼▼Emphatic personal pronoun} know that my redeemer is alive,
and at the last he will stand up upon ⌞the earth⌟. ^{▼▼Literally “dust”}
26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
but ^{▼▼Hebrew “and”} from ^{▼▼Or “without”} my flesh I will see God,
27 whom ⌞I will see for myself⌟, ^{▼▼Literally “I myself will see for myself”; emphatic personal pronoun as subject to the singular verb}
and whom my eyes will see and not a stranger. ^{▼▼Or “another”}
⌞My heart faints within me⌟. ^{▼▼Literally “My kidneys fail in my lap”; see NRSV}
28 “If you ^▼▼Plural say, ‘How will we persecute him?’
And ‘The root of the trouble is found’ in me, ^{▼▼Or “ ‘The root of the trouble is found’ in him”}
29 be afraid for yourselves ⌞because of the sword⌟, ^{▼▼Literally “from the faces of the sword”}
for wrath brings punishment by ^{▼▼Literally “of”} the sword,
so that you may know that there is judgment.”