Job Responds to Bildad
19 In response, Job said:
2 “How long do you intend to keep torturing me
and trying to break me by what you’re saying?
3 Ten times you’ve tried to humiliate me!
You’re not ashamed to wrong me!
4 Even if it’s true that I’ve erred,
my error only affects me.
5 If you really intend to vaunt yourselves over me,
and make my problems the basis of your case against me,
6 then at least you must know that God has accused me of wrong,
and trapped me with his net.”
Job Accuses God of Being Angry
7 “Although I cried out ‘Violence!’
I received no answer;
I cried for help,
but there was no justice.
8 He blocked my path,
so I cannot pass;
and he turned out the lights on my pathways.
9 “He has stripped me of my honor;
he has stolen the crown off my head!
10 He is breaking me down on every side,
and now it’s too late for me;[a]
he has uprooted my hopes like a tree.
11 His anger burns against me;
he regards me as his adversary.
12 His troops march[b] in a column[c] against me,
erecting their siege ramps against me;
they surround my tent.”
Job’s Family and Friends Abandoned Him
13 “My brothers are alienated from me;
my acquaintances are estranged;
14 my relatives have failed me;
and my friends[d] have abandoned me.
15 Those who live in my house—
and my maidservants, too!—
treat me like a stranger;
they think I’m a foreigner.
16 “I call to my servant,
but he doesn’t respond,
even though I beg to him earnestly.[e]
17 My wife says my breath stinks;
even my children say I smell bad!
18 Even little children hate me;
when I get up, they mock me.
19 My closest friends[f] detest me;
even the ones I love have turned against me.
20 I’m a pile of skin and bones;
I have barely escaped by the skin of my teeth.”
Job Pleads with His Friends
21 “Be gracious to me, be gracious to me, my friends,
because God’s hand has struck me.
22 Why are you chasing me, as God has been doing?
Aren’t you satisfied that I’m sick?[g]
23 If only my words were written down;
if only they were inscribed in a book
24 using an iron stylus with lead for ink!
Then they’d be engraved in rock forever.
25 “As for me, I know that my Vindicator[h] is alive;
And he, the Last One,[i] will take his stand on the soil.[j]
26 Even after my skin has been destroyed,
clothed in my flesh I will see God,
27 whom I will see for myself.
My own eyes will look at him—
there won’t be anyone else for me!—
He is the culmination of my innermost desire.”
Job Reminds His Friends of Judgment
28 “When you’re thinking about asking yourselves,
‘How will we pursue him,
since the root of the problem is with him?’[k]
29 Make sure that you remain wary of God’s sword,
for God’s wrath brings with it the sword of punishment,
by which you’ll know there’s a judgment.”
Footnotes
- Job 19:10 Lit. and I’m gone
- Job 19:12 Or proceed
- Job 19:12 Or together
- Job 19:14 Lit. and those who know me
- Job 19:16 Lit. him with my mouth
- Job 19:19 Or circle of familiar friends
- Job 19:22 Lit. satisfied with my flesh
- Job 19:25 Or Redeemer
- Job 19:25 Lit. And the Last
- Job 19:25 Or dust
- Job 19:28 Lit me