Job 19:1-22 ▼

1 Then Job answered and said,

2 “How long will you torment my soul And crush me with words?

3 These ten times you have dishonored me; You are not ashamed that you wrong me.

4 Even if I have truly erred, My error lodges with me.

5 If truly you magnify yourselves against me And argue my disgrace to me,

6 Know then that God has wronged me And has closed His net around me.

7 “Behold, I cry, ‘Violence!’ but I get no answer; I shout for help, but there is no justice.

8 He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass, And He has put darkness on my paths.

9 He has stripped my honor from me And removed the crown from my head.

10 He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone; And He has uprooted my hope like a tree.

11 He has also kindled His anger against me And counted me as His adversary.

12 His troops come together, And build up their way against me And camp around my tent.

13 “He has removed my brothers far from me, And my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.

14 My relatives have failed, And my familiar friends have forgotten me.

15 Those who sojourn in my house and my maidservants count me a stranger. I am a foreigner in their sight.

16 I call to my servant, but he does not answer; I have to implore him with my mouth.

17 My breath is offensive to my wife, And I am loathsome to my own brothers.

18 Even young children reject me; I rise up, and they speak against me.

19 All the men of my counsel abhor me, And those I love have turned against me.

20 My bone clings to my skin and my flesh, And I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.

21 Pity me, pity me, O you my friends, For the hand of God has smitten me.

22 Why do you persecute me as God does, And are not satisfied with my flesh?