Job 19 – read and compare multiple versions
Job 19
[1] Then Job answered,
[2] “How long will you torment me,
and crush me with words?
[3] You have reproached me ten times.
You aren’t ashamed that you attack me.
[4] If it is true that I have erred,
my error remains with myself.
[5] If indeed you will magnify yourselves against me,
and plead against me my reproach,
[6] know now that God has subverted me,
and has surrounded me with his net. [7] “Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard.
I cry for help, but there is no justice.
[8] He has walled up my way so that I can’t pass,
and has set darkness in my paths.
[9] He has stripped me of my glory,
and taken the crown from my head.
[10] He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone.
He has plucked my hope up like a tree.
[11] He has also kindled his wrath against me.
He counts me among his adversaries.
[12] His troops come on together,
build a siege ramp against me,
and encamp around my tent. [13] “He has put my brothers far from me.
My acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.
[14] My relatives have gone away.
My familiar friends have forgotten me.
[15] Those who dwell in my house and my maids consider me a stranger.
I am an alien in their sight.
[16] I call to my servant, and he gives me no answer.
I beg him with my mouth.
[17] My breath is offensive to my wife.
I am loathsome to the children of my own mother.
[18] Even young children despise me.
If I arise, they speak against me.
[19] All my familiar friends abhor me.
They whom I loved have turned against me.
[20] My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh.
I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. [21] “Have pity on me. Have pity on me, you my friends,
for the hand of God has touched me.
[22] Why do you 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 engraved in the rock forever!
[25] But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives.
In the end, he will stand upon the earth.
[26] After my skin is destroyed,
then I will see God in my flesh,
[27] whom I, even I, will see on my side.
My eyes will see, and not as a stranger.“My heart is consumed within me.
[28] If you say, ‘How we will persecute him!’
because the root of the matter is found in me,
[29] be afraid of the sword,
for wrath brings the punishments of the sword,
that you may know there is a judgment.”
[2] “How long will you torment me,
and crush me with words?
[3] You have reproached me ten times.
You aren’t ashamed that you attack me.
[4] If it is true that I have erred,
my error remains with myself.
[5] If indeed you will magnify yourselves against me,
and plead against me my reproach,
[6] know now that God has subverted me,
and has surrounded me with his net. [7] “Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard.
I cry for help, but there is no justice.
[8] He has walled up my way so that I can’t pass,
and has set darkness in my paths.
[9] He has stripped me of my glory,
and taken the crown from my head.
[10] He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone.
He has plucked my hope up like a tree.
[11] He has also kindled his wrath against me.
He counts me among his adversaries.
[12] His troops come on together,
build a siege ramp against me,
and encamp around my tent. [13] “He has put my brothers far from me.
My acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.
[14] My relatives have gone away.
My familiar friends have forgotten me.
[15] Those who dwell in my house and my maids consider me a stranger.
I am an alien in their sight.
[16] I call to my servant, and he gives me no answer.
I beg him with my mouth.
[17] My breath is offensive to my wife.
I am loathsome to the children of my own mother.
[18] Even young children despise me.
If I arise, they speak against me.
[19] All my familiar friends abhor me.
They whom I loved have turned against me.
[20] My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh.
I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. [21] “Have pity on me. Have pity on me, you my friends,
for the hand of God has touched me.
[22] Why do you 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 engraved in the rock forever!
[25] But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives.
In the end, he will stand upon the earth.
[26] After my skin is destroyed,
then I will see God in my flesh,
[27] whom I, even I, will see on my side.
My eyes will see, and not as a stranger.“My heart is consumed within me.
[28] If you say, ‘How we will persecute him!’
because the root of the matter is found in me,
[29] be afraid of the sword,
for wrath brings the punishments of the sword,
that you may know there is a judgment.”