Job 18-19

Holman Christian Standard Bible

² How long until you stop talking?
Show some sense, and then we can talk.
³ Why are we regarded as cattle,
as stupid in your sight?
⁴ You who tear yourself in anger^[a]—
should the earth be abandoned on your account,
or a rock be removed from its place?

⁵ Yes, the light^(B) of the wicked^(C) is extinguished;
the flame of his fire does not glow.
⁶ The light in his tent grows dark,^(D)
and the lamp beside him is put out.
⁷ His powerful stride is shortened,
and his own schemes trip him up.^(E)
8 For his own feet lead him into a net,
and he strays into its mesh.
⁹ A trap catches him by the heel;
a noose seizes him.
¹⁰ A rope lies hidden for him on the ground,
and a snare waits for him along the path.
¹¹ Terrors frighten him on every side^(F)
and harass him at every step.
¹² His strength is depleted;
disaster lies ready for him to stumble.^[b]
13 Parts of his skin are eaten away;
death’s firstborn consumes his limbs.
¹⁴ He is ripped from the security of his tent
and marched away to the king of terrors.
¹⁵ Nothing he owned remains in his tent.
Burning sulfur^(G) is scattered over his home.
¹⁶ His roots below dry up,
and his branches above wither away.^(H)
17 All memory^(I) of him perishes from the earth;
he has no name anywhere.^[c]
18 He is driven from light to darkness
and chased from the inhabited world.
¹⁹ He has no children or descendants among his people,
no survivor where he used to live.^(J)
20 Those in the west are appalled^(K) at his fate,
while those in the east tremble in horror.
²¹ Indeed, such is the dwelling of the unjust man,
and this is the place of the one who does not know God.^(L)

² How long will you torment me
and crush me with words?
³ You have humiliated me ten times now,
and you mistreat^[d] me without shame.^(M)
4 Even if it is true that I have sinned,
my mistake concerns only^[e] me.
⁵ If you really want to appear superior^(N) to me
and would use my disgrace as evidence against me,
⁶ then understand that it is God who has wronged me
and caught me in His net.^(O)

⁷ I cry out: “Violence!” but get no response;^(P)
I call for help, but there is no justice.
⁸ He has blocked^(Q) my way so that I cannot pass through;
He has veiled my paths with darkness.^(R)
9 He has stripped me of my honor
and removed the crown from my head.
¹⁰ He tears me down on every side so that I am ruined.^[f]
He uproots my hope like a tree.^(S)
11 His anger^(T) burns against me,
and He regards me as one of His enemies.^(U)
12 His troops advance together;
they construct a ramp^[g] against me
and camp^(V) around my tent.

¹³ He has removed my brothers from me;
my acquaintances have abandoned me.^(W)
14 My relatives stop coming by,
and my close friends have forgotten me.
¹⁵ My house guests^[h] and female servants regard me as a stranger;
I am a foreigner in their sight.^(X)
16 I call for my servant, but he does not answer,
even if I beg him with my own mouth.
¹⁷ My breath is offensive to my wife,
and my own family^[i] finds me repulsive.
¹⁸ Even young boys scorn me.
When I stand up, they mock me.^(Y)
19 All of my best friends^[j] despise me,^(Z)
and those I love have turned against me.^(AA)
20 My skin and my flesh cling to my bones;
I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

²¹ Have mercy on me, my friends,^(AB) have mercy,
for God’s hand^(AC) has struck me.^(AD)
22 Why do you persecute me as God does?
Will you never get enough of my flesh?

²³ I wish that my words were written down,
that they were recorded on a scroll
²⁴ or were inscribed in stone forever
by an iron stylus and lead!
²⁵ But I know my living Redeemer,^[k](AE)
and He will stand on the dust^[l] at last.^[m](AF)
26 Even after my skin has been destroyed,^[n]
yet I will see God in^[o] my flesh.^(AG)
27 I will see Him myself;
my eyes will look at Him, and not as a stranger.^[p]
My heart longs^[q] within me.^(AH)

²⁸ If you say, “How will we pursue him,
since the root of the problem lies with him?”^[r]
29 then be afraid of the sword,
because wrath brings punishment by the sword,^(AI)
so that you may know there is a judgment.