1
ASV
Then Job answered and said,
2
ASV
I have heard many such things: Miserable comforters are ye all.
3
ASV
Shall vain words have an end? Or what provoketh thee that thou answerest?
4
ASV
I also could speak as ye do; If your soul were in my soul’s stead, I could join words together against you, And shake my head at you.
5
ASV
[But] I would strengthen you with my mouth, And the solace of my lips would assuage [your grief].
6
ASV
Though I speak, my grief is not assuaged; And though I forbear, what am I eased?
7
ASV
But now he hath made me weary: Thou hast made desolate all my company.
8
ASV
And thou hast laid fast hold on me, [which] is a witness [against me]: And my leanness riseth up against me, It testifieth to my face.
9
ASV
He hath torn me in his wrath, and persecuted me; He hath gnashed upon me with his teeth: Mine adversary sharpeneth his eyes upon me.
10
ASV
They have gaped upon me with their mouth; They have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully: They gather themselves together against me.
11
ASV
God delivereth me to the ungodly, And casteth me into the hands of the wicked.
12
ASV
I was at ease, and he brake me asunder; Yea, he hath taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces: He hath also set me up for his mark.
13
ASV
His archers compass me round about; He cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; He poureth out my gall upon the ground.
14
ASV
He breaketh me with breach upon breach; He runneth upon me like a giant.
15
ASV
I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, And have laid my horn in the dust.
16
ASV
My face is red with weeping, And on my eyelids is the shadow of death;
17
ASV
Although there is no violence in my hands, And my prayer is pure.
18
ASV
O earth, cover not thou my blood, And let my cry have no [resting]-place.
19
ASV
Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, And he that voucheth for me is on high.
20
ASV
My friends scoff at me: [But] mine eye poureth out tears unto God,
21
ASV
That he would maintain the right of a man with God, And of a son of man with his neighbor!
22
ASV
For when a few years are come, I shall go the way whence I shall not return.
ASV: American Standard Version (1901). Public domain.
| 19Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, And he that voucheth for me is on high. |
| 20My friends scoff at me: [But] mine eye poureth out tears unto God, |
| 21That he would maintain the right of a man with God, And of a son of man with his neighbor! |
| 22For when a few years are come, I shall go the way whence I shall not return. |