ApostleLiving hope

Job 19

Job: I Know That My Redeemer Lives

Job’s Second Answer to Bildad

19:1Then Job replied:

19:2“How long will you weary my soul
and tear me down with words?

19:3Know only that the Lord made me like this.
You speak against me; without shame you press upon me.

19:4Yes, indeed, I truly went astray,
and error lodges with me—

19:4ato speak a word that ought not have been spoken;
my words wander and are not timely.

19:5But leave off magnifying yourselves against me
and leaping upon me with reproach.

19:6Know, then, that the Lord is the One who disturbed me
and raised His stronghold against me.

19:7Look, I laugh in reproach and will not speak;
I will cry out, but judgment is nowhere.

19:8I have been walled in all around and cannot pass through;
He placed darkness before my face.

19:9He stripped glory from me
and took the crown from my head.

19:10He tore me apart all around, and I was gone;
He cut off my hope like a tree.

19:11He dealt with me terribly in anger
and regarded me like an enemy.

19:12His trials came together against me on my roads;
men lying in wait encircled me.

19:13My brothers withdrew from me;
they recognized strangers rather than me,
and my friends became merciless.

19:14Those nearest me did not acknowledge me,
and those who knew my name forgot me.

19:15Neighbors of the house and my maidservants—
I was a foreigner before them.

19:16I called my servant, but he did not answer;
my mouth made entreaty.

19:17I entreated my wife
and called with flattering words to the sons of my concubines.

19:18They disowned me forever;
whenever I rise, they speak against me.

19:19Those who knew me abhorred me;
those I had loved rose against me.

19:20My flesh decayed within my skin,
and my bones are held in my teeth.

19:21Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, friends,
for the Lord’s hand is the one that touched me!

19:22Why do you pursue me just as the Lord does
and never become filled with my flesh?

19:23For who might grant that my words be written
and placed in a book forever,

19:24with an iron stylus and lead,
or engraved in rocks?

19:25For I know that the one who is about to release me upon earth is everlasting.

19:26May he raise my skin, which endures these things;
for these things were accomplished for me by the Lord,

19:27things that I know with myself,
that my eye has seen, and no other;
everything has been accomplished within my breast.

19:28But if you also say, ‘What shall we say against him?’
and, ‘We will find a root of the matter in him,’

19:29you too must beware of a covering,
for wrath will come upon the lawless,
and then they will know where their substance is.”

Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.