Job 19
Job 19 is organized around Job’s responses to his friends’ criticisms. Job deeply lays out his suffering and loneliness, as well as his feelings of being rejected by God and by the people around him. Overall, his responses can be divided into his replies (verses 1–6), an appeal regarding social and religious isolation (verses 7–22), and his wishes and hopes (verses 23–29).
1verseThen Job answered,
2verse“How long will you torment me, and crush me with words?
3verseYou have reproached me ten times. You aren’t ashamed that you attack me.
4verseIf it is true that I have erred, my error remains with myself.
5verseIf indeed you will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach,
6verseknow now that God has subverted me, and has surrounded me with his net.
7verse“Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard. I cry for help, but there is no justice.
8verseHe has walled up my way so that I can’t pass, and has set darkness in my paths.
9verseHe has stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.
10verseHe has broken me down on every side, and I am gone. He has plucked my hope up like a tree.
11verseHe has also kindled his wrath against me. He counts me among his adversaries.
12verseHis troops come on together, build a siege ramp against me, and encamp around my tent.
13verse“He has put my brothers far from me. My acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.
14verseMy relatives have gone away. My familiar friends have forgotten me.
15verseThose who dwell in my house and my maids consider me a stranger. I am an alien in their sight.
16verseI call to my servant, and he gives me no answer. I beg him with my mouth.
17verseMy breath is offensive to my wife. I am loathsome to the children of my own mother.
18verseEven young children despise me. If I arise, they speak against me.
19verseAll my familiar friends abhor me. They whom I loved have turned against me.
20verseMy bones stick to my skin and to my flesh. I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21verse“Have pity on me. Have pity on me, you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me.
22verseWhy do you persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?
23verse“Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
24verseThat with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever!
25verseBut as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, he will stand upon the earth.
26verseAfter my skin is destroyed, then I will see God in my flesh,
27versewhom I, even I, will see on my side. My eyes will see, and not as a stranger. “My heart is consumed within me.
28verseIf you say, ‘How we will persecute him!’ because the root of the matter is found in me,
29versebe afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishments of the sword, that you may know there is a judgment.”
Job’s Cry of Pain and Despair
Job emphasizes that, with words that hurt him (verses 2–5), his friends have wounded him, and that he is suffering unjustly. No one listens even when he cries out the truth so earnestly, and he feels as though even God has withdrawn from him (verses 6–12). Job appeals that his sorrow is not just physical pain, but the suffering of severed relationships and the pain of social isolation (verses 13–20).
A Confession of Hope and a Desire for the Future
Even in this extreme despair, Job confesses, “My Redeemer lives” (verse 25). This shows his belief that his injustice and true judgment will surely be carried out someday. Job hopes that the story of his suffering will be recorded forever, and he does not give up hope that his Redeemer or vindicator will eventually make his case known (verses 23–29).
Meditation Points
- Where does the courage come from that allows me to honestly express my heart even in the middle of suffering?
- What is the basis of faith that keeps me from losing hope and longing even in moments of pain and loneliness?
- How can I confess, as Job did, that “my Redeemer lives” in my life today?
Try Applying It to Yourself
- Amid the misunderstandings and suffering I experience, I can try to learn from Job’s honest heart and faithfulness.
- In difficult circumstances, let’s learn an attitude of trusting God’s gaze upon me and God’s timing.
- Even in the midst of the hardships I face, practice living in which you place your hope in God and offer your heart honestly to Him.
