Job 19

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13 He has alienated my brothers from me, my relatives take care to avoid me,	13 My brethren have withdrawn from me, and my friends are wholly estranged.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