Noyes - Job - 19

19:1  But Job answered and said:

19:2  How long will ye vex my soul, And break me in pieces with words?

19:3  These ten times have ye reviled me; Without shame do ye stun me!

19:4  And be it, indeed, that I have erred, My error abideth with myself.

19:5  Since, indeed, ye magnify yourselves against me, And plead against me my reproach,

19:6  Know then that it is God who hath brought me low; He hath encompassed me with his net.

19:7  Behold, I complain of wrong, but receive no answer; I cry aloud, but obtain no justice.

19:8  He hath fenced up my way, so that I cannot pass, And hath set darkness in my paths.

19:9  He hath stripped me of my glory, And taken the crown from my head.

19:10  He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone! He hath torn up my hope like a tree.

19:11  He kindleth his anger against me, And counteth me as his enemy.

19:12  His troops advance together against me; They throw up for themselves a way to me, And encamp around my dwelling.

19:13  My brethren he hath put far from me, And my acquaintance are wholly estranged from me.

19:14  My kinsfolk have forsaken me, And my bosom friends have forgotten me.

19:15  The foreigners of my house, yea, my own maid-servants, regard me as a stranger; I am an alien in their eyes.

19:16  I call my servant, and he maketh no answer; With my own mouth do I entreat him.

19:17  My breath is become strange to my wife, And my prayers also to my own mother’s sons.

19:18  Even young children despise me; When I rise up, they speak against me.

19:19  All my bosom friends abhor me, And they whom I loved are turned against me.

19:20  My bones cleave to my flesh and my skin, And I have scarcely escaped with the skin of my teeth.

19:21  Have pity upon me, O ye my friends! have pity upon me; For the hand of God hath smitten me!

19:22  Why do ye persecute me like God, And are not satisfied with my flesh?

19:23  O that my words were now written! O that they were marked down in a scroll!

19:24  That with an iron pen, and with lead, They were engraven upon the rock for ever!

19:25  Yet I know that my Vindicator liveth, And will hereafter stand up on the earth;

19:26  And though with my skin this body be wasted away, Yet without my flesh shall I see God.

19:27  Yea, I shall see him my friend; My eyes shall behold him, and not another: For this, my soul panteth within me.

19:28  Since ye say, "How may we persecute him, And find grounds of accusation against him?"

19:29  Be ye afraid of the sword! For malice is a crime for the sword; That ye may know that judgment cometh.