Job 19

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	NEW JERUSALEM
1 Then Job answered and said:	1 Job spoke next. He said:
2 How long will you vex my soul, grind me down with words?	2 How much longer are you going to torment me and crush me by your speeches?
3 These ten times you have reviled me, have assailed me without shame!	3 You have insulted me ten times already: have you no shame at maltreating me?
4 Be it indeed that I am at fault and that my fault remains with me,	4 Even if I had gone astray, my error would still be my own affair.
5 Even so, if you would vaunt yourselves against me and cast up to me any reproach,	5 But, whereas you take this superior attitude and claim that my disgrace is my own fault,
6 Know then that God has dealt unfairly with me, and compassed me round with his net.	6 I tel you that God has wronged me and enveloped me in his net.
7 If I cry out "Injustice!" I am not heard. I cry for help, but there is no redress.	7 If I protest against such violence, I am not heard, if I appeal against it, judgement is never given.
8 He has barred my way and I cannot pass; he has veiled my path in darkness;	8 He has built an impassable wal across my path and covered my way with darkness.
9 He has stripped me of my glory, and taken the diadem from my brow.	9 He has deprived me of my glory and taken the crown from my head.
10 He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone; my hope he has uprooted like a tree.	10 He assails me from al directions to make me vanish; he uproots my hope as he might a tree.
11 His wrath he has kindled against me; he counts me among his enemies.	11 Inflamed with anger against me, he regards me as his foe.
12 His troops advance as one man; they build up their road to attack me, and they encamp around my tent.	12 His troops have come in force, directing their line of advance towards me, they are now encampedround my tent.
13 My brethren have withdrawn from me, and my friends are wholly estranged.	13 He has alienated my brothers from me, my relatives take care to avoid me,
14 My kinsfolk and companions neglect me, and my guests have forgotten me.	14 my intimate friends have gone away and the guests in my house have forgotten me.
15 Even my handmaids treat me as a stranger; I am an alien in their sight.	15 My slave-girls regard me as an intruder, a stranger as far as they are concerned.
16 I call my servant, but he gives no answer, though in my speech I plead with him.	16 My servant does not answer when I cal him, I am obliged to beg favours from him!
17 My breath is abhorred by my wife; I am loathsome to the men of my family.	17 My breath is unbearable to my wife, my stench to my own brothers.
18 The young children, too, despise me; when I appear, they speak against me.	18 Even the children look down on me, whenever I stand up, they start jeering at me.
19 All my intimate friends hold me in horror; those whom I loved have turned against me!	19 All my dearest friends recoil from me in horror: those I loved best have turned against me.
20 My bones cleave to my skin, and I have escaped with my flesh between my teeth.	20 My flesh is rotting under my skin, my bones are sticking out like teeth.
21 Pity me, pity me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has struck me!	21 Pity me, pity me, my friends, since I have been struck by the hand of God.
22 Why do you hound me as though you were divine, and insatiably prey upon me?	22 Must you persecute me just as God does, and give my body no peace?
23 Oh, would that my words were written down! Would that they were inscribed in a record:	23 Will no one let my words be recorded, inscribed on some monument
24 That with an iron chisel and with lead they were cut in the rock forever!	24 with iron chisel and engraving tool, cut into the rock for ever?
25 But as for me, I know that my Vindicator lives, and that he will at last stand forth upon the dust;	25 I know that I have a living Defender and that he wil rise up last, on the dust of the earth.
26 And from my flesh I shall see God; my inmost being is consumed with longing.	26 After my awakening, he wil set me close to him, and from my flesh I shall look on God.
27 Whom I myself shall see: my own eyes, not another's, shall behold him,	27 He whom I shal see wil take my part: my eyes will be gazing on no stranger. My heart sinks withinme.
28 But you who say, "How shall we persecute him, seeing that the root of the matter is found in him?"	28 When you say, 'How can we confound him? What pretext can we discover against him?'
29 Be afraid of the sword for yourselves, for these crimes deserve the sword; that you may know that there is a judgment.	29 You yourselves had best beware the sword, since the wrath bursts into flame at wicked deeds andthen you wil learn that there is indeed a judgement!