Job 19

Job Replies: My Redeemer Lives

1 Then Job answered and said:

2 "How long will you torment me
and break me in pieces with words?
 3 These w ten times you have cast reproach upon me;
are you not ashamed to wrong me?
 4 And even if it be true that I have erred,
my error remains with myself.
 5 If indeed you x magnify yourselves against me
and make my disgrace an argument against me,
 6 know then that God has y put me in the wrong
and closed his net about me.
 7 Behold, I z cry out, 'Violence!' but I am not answered;
I call for help, but there is no justice.
 8 He has a walled up my way, so that I cannot pass,
and he has set darkness upon my paths.
 9 He has b stripped from me my glory
and taken the c crown from my head.
 10 He breaks me down on every side, and I d am gone,
and my hope has he pulled up like a tree.
 11 He has kindled his wrath against me
and e counts me as his adversary.
 12 His f troops come on together;
they have g cast up their siege ramp 1 against me
and encamp around my tent.

13 "He has put my h brothers far from me,
and i those who knew me are wholly estranged from me.
 14 My relatives j have failed me,
my close k friends have forgotten me.
 15 The guests l in my house and my maidservants count me as a stranger;
I have become a foreigner in their eyes.
 16 I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer;
I must plead with him with my mouth for mercy.
 17 My breath is strange to my m wife,
and I am a stench to the children of n my own mother.
 18 Even young o children despise me;
when I rise they talk against me.
 19 All my p intimate friends abhor me,
and those whom I loved have turned against me.
 20 My q bones stick to my skin and to my flesh,
and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
 21 Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O you my friends,
for the hand of God has r touched me!
 22 Why do you, like God, s pursue me?
Why are you not satisfied with my flesh?

23 "Oh that my words were written!
Oh that they were t inscribed in a book!
 24 Oh that with an iron u pen and lead
they were engraved in the rock forever!
 25 For I v know that my w Redeemer lives,
and at the last he will stand upon the x earth. 2
26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
yet in 3 my flesh I shall y see God,
 27 whom I shall see for myself,
and my eyes shall behold, and not z another.
My heart a faints within me!
 28 If you say, 'How we will s pursue him!'
and, 'The root of the matter is found in him,'
 29 be afraid of the sword,
for wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
that you may know there is b a judgment."

  1. Cross References
    Genesis 31:7
    Yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God did not permit him to harm me.
  2. Cross References
    Psalms 35:26
    Let them be put to shame and disappointed altogether who rejoice at my calamity! Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor who magnify themselves against me!
    Psalms 38:16
    For I said, "Only let them not rejoice over me, who boast against me when my foot slips!
    Psalms 55:12
    For it is not an enemy who taunts me - then I could bear it; it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me - then I could hide from him.
  3. Cross References
    Job 8:3
    Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert the right?
    Job 34:12
    Of a truth, God will not do wickedly, and the Almighty will not pervert justice.
    Lamentations 3:36
    To subvert a man in his lawsuit, the Lord does not approve.
  4. Cross References
    Job 24:12
    From out of the city the dying groan, and the soul of the wounded cries for help; yet God charges no one with wrong.
    Habakkuk 1:2
    O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you "Violence!" and you will not save?
    Lamentations 3:8
    Though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer.
  5. Cross References
    Lamentations 3:7
    He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has made my chains heavy.
    Lamentations 3:9
    He has blocked my ways with blocks of stones; he has made my paths crooked.
    Hosea 2:6
    Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, so that she cannot find her paths.
    Job 3:23
    Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?
    Job 13:27
    You put my feet in the stocks and watch all my paths; you set a limit for the soles of my feet.
  6. Cross References
    Psalms 89:44
    You have made his splendor to cease and cast his throne to the ground.
  7. Cross References
    Psalms 89:39
    You have renounced the covenant with your servant; you have defiled his crown in the dust.
    Lamentations 5:16
    The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned!
    Job 29:14
    I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban.
  8. Cross References
    Job 27:21
    The east wind lifts him up and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place.
    Job 10:21
    Before I go - and I shall not return - to the land of darkness and deep shadow.
    Job 14:20
    You prevail forever against him, and he passes; you change his countenance, and send him away.
  9. Cross References
    Job 13:24
    Why do you hide your face and count me as your enemy?
  10. Cross References
    Job 10:17
    You renew your witnesses against me and increase your vexation toward me; you bring fresh troops against me.
    Job 25:2
    Dominion and fear are with God; he makes peace in his high heaven.
  11. Cross References
    Job 30:12
    On my right hand the rabble rise; they push away my feet; they cast up against me their ways of destruction.
  12. Cross References
    Psalms 69:8
    I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother's sons.
    Job 6:15
    My brothers are treacherous as a torrent-bed, as torrential streams that pass away.
  13. Cross References
    Psalms 31:11
    Because of all my adversaries I have become a reproach, especially to my neighbors, and an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me.
    Psalms 88:8
    You have caused my companions to shun me; you have made me a horror to them. I am shut in so that I cannot escape.
    Psalms 88:18
    You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness.
  14. Cross References
    Psalms 38:11
    My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague, and my nearest kin stand far off.
  15. Cross References
    Psalms 55:13
    But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend.
  16. Cross References
    Genesis 17:27
    And all the men of his house, those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
    Matthew 10:36
    And a person's enemies will be those of his own household.
  17. Cross References
    Job 2:9
    Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.
  18. Cross References
    Job 3:10
    Because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes.
  19. Cross References
    2 Kings 2:23
    He went up from there to Bethel, and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, "Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!
  20. Cross References
    Psalms 41:9
    Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.
    Psalms 55:13 - 14
    But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend.
  21. Cross References
    Psalms 102:5
    Because of my loud groaning my bones cling to my flesh.
    Lamentations 4:8
    Now their face is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets; their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as wood.
  22. Cross References
    Job 1:11
    But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.
    Isaiah 53:4
    Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
  23. Cross References
    Psalms 69:26
    For they persecute him whom you have struck down, and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.
  24. Cross References
    Isaiah 30:8
    And now, go, write it before them on a tablet and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come as a witness forever.
  25. Cross References
    Jeremiah 17:1
    The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; with a point of diamond it is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of their altars.
  26. Cross References
    Job 30:23
    For I know that you will bring me to death and to the house appointed for all living.
  27. Cross References
    Isaiah 43:14
    Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One...
    Isaiah 44:6
    Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his ...
    Isaiah 44:24
    Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, who formed y...
    Isaiah 49:7
    Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and ...
    Genesis 48:16
    The angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bl...
    Psalms 19:14
    Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of...
    Psalms 103:4
    Who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns ...
    1 Thessalonians 1:10
    And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he ra...
  28. Cross References
    Job 41:33
    On earth there is not his like, a creature without fear.
  29. Cross References
    Psalms 17:15
    As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.
    1 Corinthians 13:12
    For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
    1 John 3:2
    Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
  30. Cross References
    Proverbs 27:2
    Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.
  31. Cross References
    Psalms 73:26
    My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
  32. Cross References
    Job 19:22
    Why do you, like God, pursue me? Why are you not satisfied with my flesh?
  33. Cross References
    Ecclesiastes 12:14
    For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.
    Psalms 58:11
    Mankind will say, "Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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