Job’s Reply to Bildad
1Then Job answered:
2How long will you torment me
and crush me with words?
3You have humiliated me ten times now,
and you mistreat a me without shame. b
4Even if it is true that I have sinned,
my mistake concerns only c me.
5If you really want to appear superior d to me
and would use my disgrace as evidence against me,
6then understand that it is God who has wronged me
and caught me in His net. e
7I cry out:“Violence!” but get no response; f
I call for help,but there is no justice.
8He has blocked g my way so that I cannot pass through;
He has veiled my paths with darkness. h
9He has stripped me of my honor
and removed the crown from my head.
10He tears me down on every side so that I am ruined. i
He uproots my hope like a tree. j
11His anger k burns against me,
and He regards me as one of His enemies. l
12His troops advance together;
they construct a ramp m against me
and camp n around my tent.
13He has removed my brothers from me;
my acquaintances have abandoned me. o
14My relatives stop coming by,
and my close friends have forgotten me.
15My house guests p and female servants regard me as a stranger;
I am a foreigner in their sight. q
16I call for my servant,but he does not answer,
even if I beg him with my own mouth.
17My breath is offensive to my wife,
and my own family r finds me repulsive.
18Even young boys scorn me.
When I stand up,they mock me. s
19All of my best friends t despise me, u
and those I love have turned against me. v
20My skin and my flesh cling to my bones;
I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21Have mercy on me,my friends, w have mercy,
for God’s hand x has struck me. y
22Why do you persecute me as God does?
Will you never get enough of my flesh?
23I wish that my words were written down,
that they were recorded on a scroll
24or were inscribed in stone forever
by an iron stylus and lead!
25But I know my living Redeemer, z aa
and He will stand on the dust ab at last. ac ad
26Even after my skin has been destroyed, ae
yet I will see God in af my flesh. ag
27I will see Him myself;
my eyes will look at Him, and not as a stranger. ah
My heart longs ai within me. aj
28If you say,“How will we pursue him,
since the root of the problem lies with him? ” ak
29then be afraid of the sword,
because wrath brings punishment by the sword, al
so that you may know there is a judgment.
Footnotes:
a.19:3 Hb obscure
b.19:3 Gn 31:7; Nm 14:22; Pr 25:8
c.19:4 Litmistake lives with
d.19:5 Ps 35:26; 38:16; 55:12
e.19:6 Jb 27:2; Lm 3:5; Ezk 12:13
f.19:7 Jb 30:20; Lm 3:8; Hab 1:2
g.19:8 Jb 3:23; Lm 3:9; Hs 2:6
h.19:8 Jb 29:3; 30:26; Is 59:9
i.19:10 Litgone
j.19:10 Dt 28:63; Jb 24:20; Ps 52:5
k.19:11 Jb 16:9; 21:17; 40:11
l.19:11 Jb 13:24; 33:10; Lm 2:5
m.19:12 Litthey raise up their way
n.19:12 Ps 27:3; Is 29:3; Jr 50:29
o.19:13 Ps 31:11; 38:11; 88:8,18
p.19:15 OrThe resident aliens in my household
q.19:15 Gn 31:15; Ps 69:8; Mt 10:36
r.19:17 Litand the sons of my belly
s.19:18 2Kg 2:23; Jb 29:8
t.19:19 Litof the men of my council
u.19:19 Jb 30:10; Ps 89:38; Am 5:10
v.19:19 Ps 41:9; 55:11-12; Jn 13:18
w.19:21 Jb 6:14; Ps 38:11; Pr 17:17
x.19:21 Ru 1:13; Jb 12:9; Is 41:20
y.19:21 Jb 1:11; 2:5; 6:7
z.19:25 Orknow that my Redeemer is living
aa.19:25 Jb 16:19; Pr 23:11; Jr 50:34
ab.19:25 Orearth
ac.19:25 Ordust at the last, ordust as the Last One
ad.19:25 Is 44:6; 48:12; Rv 1:17-18
ae.19:26 Litskin which they destroyed, orskin they destroyed in this way
af.19:26 Orapart from
ag.19:26 Ps 17:15; Is 6:1; 1Co 13:12
ah.19:27 Ornot a stranger
ai.19:27 LitMy kidneys grow faint
aj.19:27 Ps 73:26; 84:2; 119:81
ak.19:28 Some Hb mss, LXX, Vg; other Hb mss readme
al.19:29 Jb 15:22; Is 66:16; Ezk 32:10