The Book of JOB - Chapter Nineteen

1

 Then Job replied:

2 

‘How long will you torment me
    and crush me with words?

3 

Ten times now you have reproached me;
    shamelessly you attack me.

4 

If it is true that I have gone astray,
    my error remains my concern alone.

5 

If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me
    and use my humiliation against me,

6 

then know that God has wronged me
    and drawn his net around me.

7 

‘Though I cry, “Violence!” I get no response;
    though I call for help, there is no justice.

8 

He has blocked my way so that I cannot pass;
    he has shrouded my paths in darkness.

9 

He has stripped me of my honour
    and removed the crown from my head.

10 

He tears me down on every side till I am gone;
    he uproots my hope like a tree.

11 

His anger burns against me;
    he counts me among his enemies.

12 

His troops advance in force;
    they build a siege ramp against me
    and encamp around my tent.

13 

‘He has alienated my family from me;
    my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.

14 

My relatives have gone away;
    my closest friends have forgotten me.

15 

My guests and my female servants count me a foreigner;
    they look upon me as a stranger.

16 

I summon my servant, but he does not answer,
    though I beg him with my own mouth.

17 

My breath is offensive to my wife;
    I am loathsome to my own family.

18 

Even the little boys scorn me;
    when I appear, they ridicule me.

19 

All my intimate friends detest me;
    those I love have turned against me.

20 

I am nothing but skin and bones;
    I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.

21 

‘Have pity on me, my friends, have pity,
    for the hand of God has struck me.

22 

Why do you pursue me as God does?
    Will you never get enough of my flesh?

23 

‘Oh, that my words were recorded,
    that they were written on a scroll,

24 

that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead,
    or engraved in rock for ever!

25 

I know that my redeemer lives,
    and that in the end he will stand on the earth.

26 

And after my skin has been destroyed,
    yet in my flesh I will see God;

27 

I myself will see him
    with my own eyes – I, and not another.
    How my heart yearns within me!

28 

‘If you say, “How we will hound him,
    since the root of the trouble lies in him,”

29 

you should fear the sword yourselves;
    for wrath will bring punishment by the sword,
    and then you will know that there is judgment.’

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READINGS

The Book Of JOB

Chapter nineteen

Read by David Suchet

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OVERVIEW 

The Book Of JOB

Overview

(The Bible Project)

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STUDIES 

The Book Of JOB

David Pawson

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The Book of JOB - Chapter Eighteen

1  

Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

2 

‘When will you end these speeches?
    Be sensible, and then we can talk.

3 

Why are we regarded as cattle
    and considered stupid in your sight?

4 

You who tear yourself to pieces in your anger,
    is the earth to be abandoned for your sake?
    Or must the rocks be moved from their place?

5 

‘The lamp of a wicked man is snuffed out;
    the flame of his fire stops burning.

6 

The light in his tent becomes dark;
    the lamp beside him goes out.

7 

The vigour of his step is weakened;
    his own schemes throw him down.

8 

His feet thrust him into a net;
    he wanders into its mesh.

9 

A trap seizes him by the heel;
    a snare holds him fast.

10 

A noose is hidden for him on the ground;
    a trap lies in his path.

11 

Terrors startle him on every side
    and dog his every step.

12 

Calamity is hungry for him;
    disaster is ready for him when he falls.

13 

It eats away parts of his skin;
    death’s firstborn devours his limbs.

14 

He is torn from the security of his tent
    and marched off to the king of terrors.

15 

Fire resides in his tent;
    burning sulphur is scattered over his dwelling.

16 

His roots dry up below
    and his branches wither above.

17 

The memory of him perishes from the earth;
    he has no name in the land.

18 

He is driven from light into the realm of darkness
    and is banished from the world.

19 

He has no offspring or descendants among his people,
    no survivor where once he lived.

20 

People of the west are appalled at his fate;
    those of the east are seized with horror.

21 

Surely such is the dwelling of an evil man;
    such is the place of one who does not know God.’

-=-=-=-=-

READINGS

The Book Of JOB

Chapter Eighteen

Read by David Suchet

-=-=-=-

OVERVIEW 

The Book Of JOB

Overview

(The Bible Project)

-=-=-=-=-

STUDIES 

The Book Of JOB

David Pawson

-=-=-=-=-

-=-=-=-=-

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