Through My Bible Yr 01 – August 04

Through My Bible – August 04

Job 18 – 19 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

² How much longer are all of you going to keep hunting for words? ^[1]
Come to your senses! Then we can talk.
³ Why are we considered to be like cattle?
Why are we regarded as unreasoning animals in your eyes?

⁴ You, who tear yourself to pieces with your anger,
do you expect the earth to be made desolate for your sake?
Should rocks be moved from their place for you?

⁵ The light of the wicked has been extinguished,
and not a spark of his flame still shines.
⁶ In his tent, light becomes darkness
when the lamp beside him goes out.
⁷ His powerful strides are tangled up,
and his own plans bring him down.
⁸ Yes, his feet are caught in a net,
and he stumbles into its webbing.
⁹ A trap snaps at his heel,
and a snare catches him firmly.
¹⁰ A noose lies hidden on the ground for him.
A trap is set on his path.
¹¹ Terrors frighten him on every side.
They harass him at every step.
¹² His strength is eaten away by hunger, ^[2]
and disaster is waiting for him to stumble.
¹³ It eats away pieces of his skin.
Death’s firstborn child eats away pieces of him.
¹⁴ He is torn away from the safety of his tent.
He is marched off to the king of terrors.
¹⁵ Nothing that belonged to him remains in his tent. ^[3]
Sulfur is scattered over his dwelling.
¹⁶ His roots dry up below,
and his branches wither above.
¹⁷ All memory of him perishes from the earth.
No one on the street remembers his name.
¹⁸ He is pushed away from the light into the darkness.
He is chased out of the world.
¹⁹ He has no posterity or descendants among his people.
He leaves no survivor in his place, where he lived as an alien.
²⁰ People in the west shudder at his fate.
People in the east are overcome with horror.
²¹ Certainly this is the dwelling place for an evil man.
This is the place for one who does not acknowledge God.

² How long will you torment my soul?
How long will you crush me with words?
³ Ten times now you have insulted me,
but you are not ashamed that you are treating me so badly.
⁴ But even if I actually were in the wrong,
my error would remain my own concern.
⁵ To be sure, when you lord it over me,
and you hurl my disgrace against me,
⁶ you should know that God has denied me justice,
and he has trapped me in his net.
⁷ Listen to me!
I cry out, “Injustice,” but I get no answer.
I call for help, but there is no justice.
⁸ He has blocked my way, so I cannot get by.
He has brought darkness on my paths.
⁹ He has stripped me of my honor,
and he has taken the crown off my head.
¹⁰ He tears me down on every side, until I am gone.
He uproots my hope like a tree.
¹¹ His anger burns against me,
and he regards me as his enemy.
¹² Together his troops advance against me.
They build a siege ramp against me.
They camp all around my tent.
¹³ He has distanced my brothers far from me,
and those who know me treat me like a stranger.
¹⁴ My relatives stay away.
Even my close friends have forgotten me.
¹⁵ Even my houseguests and my female servants treat me like a stranger.
They look upon me as a foreigner.
¹⁶ I summon my servant, but he does not answer,
even though I beg him to be gracious to me.
¹⁷ My breath keeps my wife away from me,
and I am repulsive to my mother’s children.
¹⁸ Even young boys reject me.
When I get up, they speak against me.
¹⁹ My closest confidants shun me,
and those I love have turned against me.
²⁰ I am nothing but skin and bones.
I have escaped with the skin of my teeth.
²¹ Have mercy on me.
Have mercy on me, you friends of mine,
because the hand of God has struck me.
²² Why do you pursue me the way God does?
Will you never get enough of my flesh?
²³ Oh how I wish that my words were written down.
Oh how I wish that they were inscribed in bronze, ^[4]
24 that they would be engraved in rock forever
with an iron tool and letters filled with lead.
²⁵ As for me, I know that my Redeemer ^[5] lives,
and that at the end of time ^[6] he will stand over the dust.
²⁶ Then, even after my skin has been destroyed,
nevertheless, in my own flesh I will see God. ^[7]
27 I myself will see him.
My own eyes will see him, and not as a stranger.
My emotions are in turmoil ^[8] within me.

²⁸ If you say, “What can we do to pursue him?”
and “He is the root of his own problems,”
²⁹ then you should fear the edge of the sword for yourselves!
For wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
so that you will know that there is judgment.

Footnotes

1. Job 18:2 This line is difficult.
2. Job 18:12 Or destruction is hungry for him
3. Job 18:15 Or fire dwells in his tent
4. Job 19:23 Or on a scroll
5. Job 19:25 Or Protector
6. Job 19:25 Or as the last one
7. Job 19:26 The Hebrew of the verse is difficult, but the basic meaning is clear.
8. Job 19:27 Literally my kidneys wear out