Job 19 - Easy To Read Version

¹ Then Job answered:

² “How long will you hurt me\par and break me with words?\par

³ You have insulted me ten times now.\par You show no shame when you attack me!\par

⁴ Even if I have sinned,\par it is my problem.\par It does not hurt you.\par

⁵ You just want to make yourselves look\par better than me.\par You say that my troubles\par are my own fault.\par

⁶ But it is God who did wrong to me.\par He set his trap to catch me.\par

⁷ I shout, ‘He hurt me!’\par But I get no answer.\par Even if I call loudly for help,\par no person hears my cry for fairness.\par

⁸ God has blocked my way\par so I can’t go through.\par He has hidden my path in darkness.\par

⁹ God took away my honor.\par He took the crown from my head.\par

¹⁰ God hits me from every side\par until I am finished.\par He takes away my hope\par like a tree pulled up by the roots.\par

¹¹ God’s anger burns against me.\par He calls me his enemy.\par

¹² God sends his army to attack me.\par They build attack towers around me.\par They camp around my tent.\par

¹³ “God has made my brothers hate me.\par I am a stranger to all my friends.\par

¹⁴ My relatives have left me.\par My friends have forgotten me.\par

¹⁵ Visitors in my home\par and my girl servants\par look at me like I am\par a stranger and a foreigner.\par

¹⁶ I call for my servant,\par but he does not answer.\par Even if I beg for help,\par my servant will not answer.\par

¹⁷ My wife hates the smell of my breath.\par My own brothers hate me.\par

¹⁸ Even little children make fun of me.\par When I come near them,\par they say bad things to me.\par

¹⁹ All my close friends hate me.\par Even the people I love turned against me.\par

²⁰ “I am so thin,\par my skin hangs loose on my bones.\par I have little life left in me.\par

²¹ “Pity me, my friends, pity me!\par Why? Because God is against me.\par

²² Why do you persecute me like God does?\par Don’t you get tired of hurting me?\par

²³ “I wish someone would remember\par what I say and write it in a book.\par I wish my words were written on a scroll.\par

²⁴ I wish the things I say were carved\par with an iron tool on lead\par or scratched on a rock\par so they would last forever.\par

²⁵ I know there is someone to defend me.\par I know he lives!\par And in the end he will stand here on earth\par and defend me.\par

²⁶ After I leave my body\par and my skin has been destroyed,\par I know I will still see God.\par

²⁷ I will see God\par with my own eyes.\par I myself, not someone else,\par will see God,\par And I can’t tell you how excited\par that makes me feel!\par

²⁸ “Maybe you will say,\par ‘We will bother Job.\par We will find a reason to blame him!’\par

²⁹ But you yourselves should be afraid\par of the sword!\par Why? Because God punishes guilty people.\par God will use the sword to punish you.\par Then you will know that\par there is a time of judgment.”\par