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19 Then Job answered and said,

How long will ye vex my soul,
And break me in pieces with words?
These ten times have ye reproached me:
Ye are not ashamed that ye deal hardly with me.
And be it indeed that I have erred,
Mine error remaineth with myself.
[a]If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me,
And plead against me my reproach;
Know now that God hath [b]subverted me in my cause,
And hath compassed me with his net.

Behold, I [c]cry out of wrong, but I am not heard:
I cry for help, but there is no justice.
He hath walled up my way that I cannot pass,
And hath set darkness in my paths.
He hath stripped me of my glory,
And taken the crown from my head.
10 He hath broken me down on every side, and I am gone;
And my hope hath he plucked up like a tree.
11 He hath also kindled his wrath against me,
And he counteth me unto him as one of his adversaries.
12 His troops come on together,
And cast up their way against me,
And encamp round about my tent.

13 He hath put my brethren far from me,
And mine acquaintance are wholly estranged from me.
14 My kinsfolk have failed,
And my familiar friends have forgotten me.
15 They that [d]dwell in my house, and my maids, count me for a stranger:
I am an alien in their sight.
16 I call unto my servant, and he giveth me no answer,
Though I entreat him with my mouth.
17 My breath is strange to my wife,
And [e]my supplication to the children [f]of mine own mother.
18 Even young children despise me;
If I arise, they speak against me.
19 All [g]my familiar friends abhor me,
And they whom I loved are turned against me.
20 My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh,
And I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.
21 Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends;
For the hand of God hath touched me.
22 Why do ye persecute me as God,
And are not satisfied with my flesh?

23 Oh that my words were now written!
Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
24 That with an iron pen and lead
They were graven in the rock for ever!
25 [h]But as for me I know that my [i]Redeemer liveth,
And at last he will stand up upon the [j]earth:
26 [k]And after my skin, even this body, is destroyed,
Then without my flesh shall I see God;
27 Whom I, even I, shall see, [l]on my side,
And mine eyes shall behold, and not as a stranger.
My [m]heart is consumed within me.
28 If ye say, How we will persecute him!
And that the root of the matter is found in me;
29 Be ye afraid of the sword:
For [n]wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword,
That ye may know there is a judgment.

20 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,

Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me,
[o]Even by reason of my haste that is in me.
I have heard the reproof which putteth me to shame;
[p]And the spirit of my understanding answereth me.
Knowest thou not this of old time,
Since man was placed upon earth,
That the triumphing of the wicked is short,
And the joy of the godless but for a moment?
Though his height mount up to the heavens,
And his head reach unto the clouds;
Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung:
They that have seen him shall say, Where is he?
He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found:
Yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.
The eye which saw him shall see him no more;
Neither shall his place any more behold him.
10 [q]His children shall seek the favor of the poor,
And his hands shall give back his wealth.
11 His bones are full of his youth,
But it shall lie down with him in the dust.

12 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth,
Though he hide it under his tongue,
13 Though he spare it, and will not let it go,
But keep it still within his mouth;
14 Yet his food in his bowels is turned,
It is the gall of asps within him.
15 He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again;
God will cast them out of his belly.
16 He shall suck the poison of asps:
The viper’s tongue shall slay him.
17 He shall not look upon the rivers,
The flowing streams of honey and butter.
18 That which he labored for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down;
According to the substance [r]that he hath gotten, he shall not rejoice.
19 For he hath oppressed and forsaken the poor;
He hath violently taken away a house, [s]and he shall not build it up.

20 Because he knew no quietness [t]within him,
He shall not save aught of that wherein he delighteth.
21 There was nothing left that he devoured not;
Therefore his prosperity shall not endure.
22 In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits:
The hand of every one that is in misery shall come upon him.
23 [u]When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fierceness of his wrath upon him,
And will rain it upon him [v]while he is eating.
24 He shall flee from the iron weapon,
And the bow of brass shall strike him through.
25 He draweth it forth, and it cometh out of his body;
Yea, the glittering point cometh out of his gall:
Terrors are upon him.
26 All darkness is laid up for his treasures:
A fire not blown by man shall devour him;
[w]It shall consume that which is left in his tent.
27 The heavens shall reveal his iniquity,
And the earth shall rise up against him.
28 The increase of his house shall depart;
His goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.
29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God,
And the heritage appointed unto him by God.

Footnotes

  1. Job 19:5 Or, Will ye indeed . . . reproach?
  2. Job 19:6 Or, overthrown me
  3. Job 19:7 Or, cry out, Violence!
  4. Job 19:15 Or, sojourn
  5. Job 19:17 Or, I make supplication. Or, I am loathsome
  6. Job 19:17 Or, of my body
  7. Job 19:19 Hebrew the men of my council.
  8. Job 19:25 Or, For
  9. Job 19:25 Or, vindicator. Hebrew goel.
  10. Job 19:25 Hebrew dust.
  11. Job 19:26 Or, And after my skin hath been thus destroyed, Yet from my flesh shall I see God
  12. Job 19:27 Or, for myself
  13. Job 19:27 Hebrew reins.
  14. Job 19:29 Or, wrathful are
  15. Job 20:2 Or, And by reason of this my haste is within me
  16. Job 20:3 Or, But out of my understanding my spirit answereth me
  17. Job 20:10 Or, as otherwise read, The poor shall oppress his children
  18. Job 20:18 Hebrew of his exchange.
  19. Job 20:19 Or, which he builded not
  20. Job 20:20 Or, in his greed. Hebrew in his belly.
  21. Job 20:23 Or, Let it be for the filling of his belly that God shall cast etc.
  22. Job 20:23 Or, as his food
  23. Job 20:26 Or, It shall go ill with him that is left