Job 18–19: I Know That My Redeemer Lives
Scripture: Berean Standard Bible
Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:
“How long until you end these speeches?Show some sense, and then we can talk.Why are we regarded as cattle,as stupid in your sight?You who tear yourself in anger—should the earth be forsaken on your account,or the rocks be moved from their place?
Indeed, the lamp of the wicked is extinguished;the flame of his fire does not glow.The light in his tent grows dark,and the lamp beside him goes out.His vigorous stride is shortened,and his own schemes trip him up.For his own feet lead him into a net,and he wanders into its mesh.A trap seizes his heel;a snare grips him.A noose is hidden in the ground,and a trap lies in his path.Terrors frighten him on every sideand harass his every step.His strength is depleted,and calamity is ready at his side.It devours patches of his skin;the firstborn of death devours his limbs.
He is torn from the shelter of his tentand is marched off to the king of terrors.Fire resides in his tent;burning sulfur rains down on his dwelling.The roots beneath him dry up,and the branches above him wither away.The memory of him perishes from the earth,and he has no name in the land.He is driven from light into darknessand is chased from the inhabited world.He has no offspring or posterity among his people,no survivor where he once lived.
Those in the west are appalled at his fate,while those in the east tremble in horror.Surely such is the dwelling of the wickedand the place of one who does not know God.”
Then Job answered:
“How long will you torment meand crush me with your words?Ten times now you have reproached me;you shamelessly mistreat me.Even if I have truly gone astray,my error concerns me alone.If indeed you would exalt yourselves above meand use my disgrace against me,then understand that it is God who has wronged meand drawn his net around me.
Though I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I get no response;though I call for help, there is no justice.He has blocked my way so I cannot pass;he has veiled my paths with darkness.He has stripped me of my honorand removed the crown from my head.He tears me down on every side until I am gone;he uproots my hope like a tree.His anger burns against me,and he counts me among his enemies.His troops advance together;they construct a ramp against meand encamp around my tent.
He has removed my brothers from me;my acquaintances have abandoned me.My kinsmen have failed me,and my friends have forgotten me.My guests and maidservants count me as a stranger;I am a foreigner in their sight.I call for my servant, but he does not answer,though I implore him with my own mouth.My breath is repulsive to my wife,and I am loathsome to my own family.Even little boys scorn me;when I appear, they deride me.All my best friends despise me,and those I love have turned against me.My skin and flesh cling to my bones;I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
Have pity on me, my friends, have pity,for the hand of God has struck me.Why do you persecute me as God does?Will you never get enough of my flesh?
I wish that my words were recordedand inscribed in a book,by an iron stylus on lead,or chiseled in stone forever.But I know that my Redeemer lives,and in the end he will stand upon the earth.Even after my skin has been destroyed,yet in my flesh I will see God.I will see him for myself;my eyes will behold him, and not as a stranger.How my heart yearns within me!
If you say, ‘Let us persecute him,since the root of the matter lies with him,’then you should fear the sword yourselves,because wrath brings punishment by the sword,so that you may know there is a judgment.”