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The Book of Job

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- Chapter 19 -

Job trusts in his redeemer

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But Job answered by saying:
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How long will you afflict my soul and wear me down with words?
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So, ten times you confound me and are not ashamed to oppress me.
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Now, of course, if I have been ignorant, my ignorance will be with me.
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But you have risen up against me, and you accuse me to my disgrace.
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At least now you should understand that God has not afflicted me with a balanced judgment, though he has encompassed me with his scourges.(a)
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Behold, I will cry out, enduring violence, and no one will hear. I will announce loudly, but there is no one who may judge.
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He has hemmed in my path, and I cannot pass; he has added darkness to my difficult path.(b)
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He has plundered me of my glory, and he has stolen the crown from my head.
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He has destroyed me on every side, and I am lost, and, like an uprooted tree, he has taken away my hope.
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His fury has raged against me, and in this way he has treated me like his enemy.
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His troops have gathered together, and they have made their way to me, and they have besieged my tabernacle all around.
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He has put my brothers far from me, and my friends have withdrawn from me like strangers.
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My kinsmen have forsaken me, and those who knew me, have forgotten me.
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The inhabitants of my house and my maidservants treat me just as if I were a stranger, and I have been like a sojourner in their eyes.
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I called my servant, and he did not respond; I pleaded with him with my own mouth.
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My wife has shuddered at my breath, and I have begged the sons of my loins.
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Even the foolish have looked down on me, and, when I withdrew from them, they spoke ill of me.
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Those who were sometimes my counselors, treat me like an abomination; and he whom I valued the most has turned against me.
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Since my flesh has been consumed, my bone adheres to my skin, and only my lips have been left around my teeth.
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Have mercy on me, have compassion on me, at least you my friends, because the hand of the Lord has touched me.
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Why do you pursue me just as God does, and satiate yourselves with my flesh?
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Who will grant to me that my words may be written down? Who will grant to me that they may be inscribed in a book,
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with an iron pen and a plate of lead, or else be carved in stone?
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For I know that my Redeemer lives, and on the last day I will rise out of the earth.(c)
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And I will be enveloped again with my skin, and in my flesh I will see my God.
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It is he whom I myself will see, and he whom my eyes will behold, and no other. This, my hope, has taken rest in my bosom.
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Why then do you now say: “Let us pursue him, and let us find a basis to speak against him?”(d)
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So then, flee from the face of the sword, for the sword is the avenger of iniquities; but know this: there is to be a judgment.(e)

Footnotes

(a)19:6 With an equal judgment:St. Gregory explains these words thus: Job being a just man, and truly considering his own life, thought that his affliction was greater than his sins deserved: and in that respect, that the punishment was not equal, yet it was just, as coming from God, who gives a crown of justice to those who suffer for righteousness’ sake, and proves the just with tribulations, as gold is tried by fire.(Challoner)
(b)19:8 A looser translation better expresses the meaning of this passage. A ‘calle’ is not any path, but a rough or mountainous path, a difficult path. God has placed or set or added darkness to an already difficult path.(Conte)
(c)19:25 Ver. 25, 26, and 27 show Job’s explicit belief in his Redeemer, and also of the resurrection of the flesh, not as one tree rises in place of another, but that the selfsame flesh shall rise at the last day, by the power of God, changed in quality but not in substance, every one to receive sentence according to his works in this life.(Challoner)
(d)19:28 The word ‘radicem’ refers to the root of something, but here it is used metaphorically to refer to the basis for finding words to use against someone.(Conte)
(e)19:29 The phrase ‘et scitote esse iudicium’ literally means ‘and know judgment (is) to be.’ The verb ‘to be’ is implied. The translation is less literal, so that the meaning is clear and the expression sounds better in English: ‘but know this: there is to be a judgment.’ The word ‘et’ is typically translated as ‘and’ but not infrequently can mean ‘also’ or ‘but’ or similar things.(Conte)

Job trusts in his redeemer

1
Then Job answered,
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“How long will you torment me, and crush me with words?
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You have reproached me ten times. You aren’t ashamed that you attack me.
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If it is true that I have erred, my error remains with myself.
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If indeed you will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach,
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know now that God has subverted me, and has surrounded me with his net.
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“Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard. I cry for help, but there is no justice.
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He has walled up my way so that I can’t pass, and has set darkness in my paths.
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He has stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.
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He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone. He has plucked my hope up like a tree.
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He has also kindled his wrath against me. He counts me among his adversaries.
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His troops come on together, build a siege ramp against me, and encamp around my tent.
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“He has put my brothers far from me. My acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.
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My relatives have gone away. My familiar friends have forgotten me.
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Those who dwell in my house and my maids consider me a stranger. I am an alien in their sight.
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I call to my servant, and he gives me no answer. I beg him with my mouth.
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My breath is offensive to my wife. I am loathsome to the children of my own mother.
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Even young children despise me. If I arise, they speak against me.
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All my familiar friends abhor me. They whom I loved have turned against me.
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My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh. I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
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“Have pity on me. Have pity on me, you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me.
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Why do you persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?
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“Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
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That with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever!
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But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, he will stand upon the earth.
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After my skin is destroyed, then I will see God in my flesh,
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whom I, even I, will see on my side. My eyes will see, and not as a stranger. “My heart is consumed within me.
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If you say, ‘How we will persecute him!’ because the root of the matter is found in me,
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be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishments of the sword, that you may know there is a judgment.”
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