NAS - Job Chapter 17 to 19

17 Job Says He Has Become a Byword

¹"My spirit is broken, my days are extinguished, The grave is ready for me. ² "Surely mockers are with me, And my eye gazes on their provocation.

³"Lay down, now, a pledge for me with Yourself; Who is there that will be my guarantor? ⁴ "For You have kept their heart from understanding, Therefore You will not exalt them. ⁵ "He who informs against friends for a share of the spoil, The eyes of his children also will languish.

⁶"But He has made me a byword of the people, And I am one at whom men spit. ⁷"My eye has also grown dim because of grief, And all my members are as a shadow. ⁸ "The upright will be appalled at this, And the innocent will stir up himself against the godless. ⁹ "Nevertheless the righteous will hold to his way, And he who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger. ¹⁰"But come again all of you now, For I do not find a wise man among you. ¹¹"My days are past, my plans are torn apart, Even the wishes of my heart. ¹²"They make night into day, saying, `The light is near,' in the presence of darkness. ¹³ "If I look for Sheol as my home, I make my bed in the darkness; ¹⁴If I call to the pit, `You are my father'; To the worm, `my mother and my sister'; ¹⁵ Where now is my hope? And who regards my hope? ¹⁶"Will it go down with me to Sheol? Shall we together go down into the dust?"

18 Bildad Speaks of the Wicked

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite responded, ² "How long will you hunt for words? Show understanding and then we can talk. ³ "Why are we regarded as beasts, As stupid in your eyes? ⁴"O you who tear yourself in your anger-- For your sake is the earth to be abandoned, Or the rock to be moved from its place?

⁵"Indeed, the light of the wicked goes out, And the flame of his fire gives no light. ⁶ "The light in his tent is darkened, And his lamp goes out above him. ⁷ "His vigorous stride is shortened, And his own scheme brings him down. ⁸ "For he is thrown into the net by his own feet, And he steps on the webbing. ⁹ "A snare seizes him by the heel, And a trap snaps shut on him. ¹⁰ "A noose for him is hidden in the ground, And a trap for him on the path. ¹¹ "All around terrors frighten him, And harry him at every step. ¹²"His strength is famished, And calamity is ready at his side. ¹³"His skin is devoured by disease, The firstborn of death devours his limbs. ¹⁴ "He is torn from the security of his tent, And they march him before the king of terrors. ¹⁵ "There dwells in his tent nothing of his; Brimstone is scattered on his habitation. ¹⁶ "His roots are dried below, And his branch is cut off above. ¹⁷ "Memory of him perishes from the earth, And he has no name abroad. ¹⁸ "He is driven from light into darkness, And chased from the inhabited world. ¹⁹ "He has no offspring or posterity among his people, Nor any survivor where he sojourned. ²⁰ "Those in the west are appalled at his fate, And those in the east are seized with horror. ²¹ "Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, And this is the place of him who does not know God."

19 Job Feels Insulted

¹Then Job responded, ² "How long will you torment me And crush me with words? ³"These ten times you have insulted me; You are not ashamed to wrong me. ⁴"Even if I have truly erred, My error lodges with me. ⁵"If indeed you vaunt yourselves against me And prove my disgrace to me, ⁶Know then that God has wronged me And has closed His net around me.

Everything Is against Him

⁷"Behold, I cry, `Violence!' but I get no answer; I shout for help, but there is no justice. ⁸ "He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass, And He has put darkness on my paths. ⁹ "He has stripped my honor from me And removed the crown from my head. ¹⁰ "He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone; And He has uprooted my hope like a tree. ¹¹ "He has also kindled His anger against me And considered me as His enemy. ¹² "His troops come together, And build up their way against me And camp around my tent.

¹³"He has removed my brothers far from me, And my acquaintances are completely estranged from me. ¹⁴ "My relatives have failed, And my intimate friends have forgotten me. ¹⁵ "Those who live in my house and my maids consider me a stranger. I am a foreigner in their sight. ¹⁶ "I call to my servant, but he does not answer; I have to implore him with my mouth. ¹⁷ "My breath is offensive to my wife, And I am loathsome to my own brothers. ¹⁸ "Even young children despise me; I rise up and they speak against me. ¹⁹ "All my associates abhor me, And those I love have turned against me. ²⁰ "My bone clings to my skin and my flesh, And I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth. ²¹ "Pity me, pity me, O you my friends, For the hand of God has struck me. ²² "Why do you persecute me as God does, And are not satisfied with my flesh?

Job Says, "My Redeemer Lives"

²³"Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! ²⁴"That with an iron stylus and lead They were engraved in the rock forever! ²⁵ "As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last He will take His stand on the earth. ²⁶ "Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall see God; ²⁷ Whom I myself shall behold, And whom my eyes will see and not another. My heart faints within me! ²⁸"If you say, `How shall we persecute him?' And `What pretext for a case against him can we find?' ²⁹ "Then be afraid of the sword for yourselves, For wrath brings the punishment of the sword, So that you may know there is judgment."