Thematic Bible
Thematic Bible
Job » Faith strained but victorious
Then Job answered: How long will you vex and torment me and break me in pieces with words? These ten times you have reproached me; you are not ashamed that you make yourselves strange [harden yourselves against me and deal severely with me]. read more.
And if it were true that I have erred, my error would remain with me [I would be conscious of it]. If indeed you magnify yourselves against me and plead against me my reproach and humiliation, Know that God has overthrown and put me in the wrong and has closed His net about me. Behold, I cry out, Violence! but I am not heard; I cry aloud for help, but there is no justice. He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass, and He has set darkness upon my paths. He has stripped me of my glory and taken the crown from my head. He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone; my hope has He pulled up like a tree. He has also kindled His wrath against me, and He counts me as one of His adversaries. His troops come together and cast up their way and siege works against me and encamp round about my tent. He has put my brethren far from me, and my acquaintances are wholly estranged from me. My kinsfolk have failed me, and my familiar friends have forgotten me. Those who live temporarily in my house and my maids count me as a stranger; I am an alien in their sight. I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer, though I beseech him with words. I am repulsive to my wife and loathsome to the children of my own mother. Even young children despise me; when I get up, they speak against me. All the men of my council and my familiar friends abhor me; those whom I loved are turned against me. My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped with the skin or gums of my teeth. Have pity on me! Have pity on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me! Why do you, as if you were God, pursue and persecute me? [Acting like wild beasts] why are you not satisfied with my flesh? Oh, that the words I now speak were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book [carved on a tablet of stone]! That with an iron pen and [molten] lead they were graven in the rock forever! For I know that my Redeemer and Vindicator lives, and at last He [the Last One] will stand upon the earth. And after my skin, even this body, has been destroyed, then from my flesh or without it I shall see God, Whom I, even I, shall see for myself and on my side! And my eyes shall behold Him, and not as a stranger! My heart pines away and is consumed within me.
And if it were true that I have erred, my error would remain with me [I would be conscious of it]. If indeed you magnify yourselves against me and plead against me my reproach and humiliation, Know that God has overthrown and put me in the wrong and has closed His net about me. Behold, I cry out, Violence! but I am not heard; I cry aloud for help, but there is no justice. He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass, and He has set darkness upon my paths. He has stripped me of my glory and taken the crown from my head. He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone; my hope has He pulled up like a tree. He has also kindled His wrath against me, and He counts me as one of His adversaries. His troops come together and cast up their way and siege works against me and encamp round about my tent. He has put my brethren far from me, and my acquaintances are wholly estranged from me. My kinsfolk have failed me, and my familiar friends have forgotten me. Those who live temporarily in my house and my maids count me as a stranger; I am an alien in their sight. I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer, though I beseech him with words. I am repulsive to my wife and loathsome to the children of my own mother. Even young children despise me; when I get up, they speak against me. All the men of my council and my familiar friends abhor me; those whom I loved are turned against me. My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped with the skin or gums of my teeth. Have pity on me! Have pity on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me! Why do you, as if you were God, pursue and persecute me? [Acting like wild beasts] why are you not satisfied with my flesh? Oh, that the words I now speak were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book [carved on a tablet of stone]! That with an iron pen and [molten] lead they were graven in the rock forever! For I know that my Redeemer and Vindicator lives, and at last He [the Last One] will stand upon the earth. And after my skin, even this body, has been destroyed, then from my flesh or without it I shall see God, Whom I, even I, shall see for myself and on my side! And my eyes shall behold Him, and not as a stranger! My heart pines away and is consumed within me.
Persecution » Instances of » Of job
But now they who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I disdained to set with the dogs of my flock. Yes, how could the strength of their hands profit me? They were men whose ripe age and vigor had perished. They are gaunt with want and famine; they gnaw the dry and barren ground or flee into the wilderness, into the gloom of wasteness and desolation. read more.
They pluck saltwort or mallows among the bushes, and roots of the broom for their food or to warm them. They are driven from among men, who shout after them as after a thief. They must dwell in the clefts of frightful valleys (gullies made by torrents) and in holes of the earth and of the rocks. Among the bushes they bray and howl [like wild animals]; beneath the prickly scrub they fling themselves and huddle together. Sons of the worthless and nameless, they have been scourged and crushed out of the land. And now I have become their song; yes, I am a byword to them. They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, and do not refrain from spitting in my face or at the sight of me.
They pluck saltwort or mallows among the bushes, and roots of the broom for their food or to warm them. They are driven from among men, who shout after them as after a thief. They must dwell in the clefts of frightful valleys (gullies made by torrents) and in holes of the earth and of the rocks. Among the bushes they bray and howl [like wild animals]; beneath the prickly scrub they fling themselves and huddle together. Sons of the worthless and nameless, they have been scourged and crushed out of the land. And now I have become their song; yes, I am a byword to them. They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, and do not refrain from spitting in my face or at the sight of me.
But you are forgers of lies [you defame my character most untruthfully]; you are all physicians of no value and have no remedy to offer. Oh, that you would altogether hold your peace! Then you would evidence your wisdom and you might pass for wise men. Hear now my reasoning, and listen to the pleadings of my lips. read more.
Will you speak unrighteously for God and talk deceitfully for Him? Will you show partiality to Him [be unjust to me in order to gain favor with Him]? Will you act as special pleaders for God? Would it be profitable for you if He should investigate your tactics [with me]? Or as one deceives and mocks a man, do you deceive and mock Him? He will surely reprove you if you do secretly show partiality. Shall not His majesty make you afraid, and should not your awe for Him restrain you? Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes [valueless]; your defenses are defenses of clay [and will crumble]. Hold your peace! Let me alone, so I may speak; and let come on me what may.
Will you speak unrighteously for God and talk deceitfully for Him? Will you show partiality to Him [be unjust to me in order to gain favor with Him]? Will you act as special pleaders for God? Would it be profitable for you if He should investigate your tactics [with me]? Or as one deceives and mocks a man, do you deceive and mock Him? He will surely reprove you if you do secretly show partiality. Shall not His majesty make you afraid, and should not your awe for Him restrain you? Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes [valueless]; your defenses are defenses of clay [and will crumble]. Hold your peace! Let me alone, so I may speak; and let come on me what may.
Then Job answered, I have heard many such things; wearisome and miserable comforters are you all! Will your futile words of wind have no end? Or what makes you so bold to answer [me like this]? read more.
I also could speak as you do, if you were in my stead; I could join words together against you and shake my head at you.
I also could speak as you do, if you were in my stead; I could join words together against you and shake my head at you.
“Surely there are mockers and mockery with me,
And my eye gazes on their obstinacy and provocation.
Then Job answered: How long will you vex and torment me and break me in pieces with words? These ten times you have reproached me; you are not ashamed that you make yourselves strange [harden yourselves against me and deal severely with me]. read more.
And if it were true that I have erred, my error would remain with me [I would be conscious of it]. If indeed you magnify yourselves against me and plead against me my reproach and humiliation,
And if it were true that I have erred, my error would remain with me [I would be conscious of it]. If indeed you magnify yourselves against me and plead against me my reproach and humiliation,