Job 17:2 "Surely mockers are with me, And my eye gazes on their provocation.

Job 17:3 "Lay down, now, a pledge for me with Yourself; Who is there that will be my guarantor?

Job 17:4 "For You have kept their heart from understanding, Therefore You will not exalt them.

Job 17:5 "He who informs against friends for a share of the spoil, The eyes of his children also will languish.

Job 17:6 "But He has made me a byword of the people, And I am one at whom men spit.

Job 17:7 "My eye has also grown dim because of grief, And all my members are as a shadow.

Job 17:8 "The upright will be appalled at this, And the innocent will stir up himself against the godless.

Job 17:9 "Nevertheless the righteous will hold to his way, And he who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.

Job 17:10 "But come again all of you now, For I do not find a wise man among you.

Job 17:11 "My days are past, my plans are torn apart, Even the wishes of my heart.

Job 17:12 "They make night into day, saying, 'The light is near,' in the presence of darkness.

Job 17:13 "If I look for Sheol as my home, I make my bed in the darkness;

Job 17:14 If I call to the pit, 'You are my father'; To the worm, 'my mother and my sister';

Job 17:15 Where now is my hope? And who regards my hope?

Job 17:16 "Will it go down with me to Sheol? Shall we together go down into the dust?"

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Job 18:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite responded,

Job 18:2 "How long will you hunt for words? Show understanding and then we can talk.

Job 18:3 "Why are we regarded as beasts, As stupid in your eyes?

Job 18:4 "O you who tear yourself in your anger-- For your sake is the earth to be abandoned, Or the rock to be moved from its place?

Job 18:5 "Indeed, the light of the wicked goes out, And the flame of his fire gives no light.

Job 18:6 "The light in his tent is darkened, And his lamp goes out above him.

Job 18:7 "His vigorous stride is shortened, And his own scheme brings him down.

Job 18:8 "For he is thrown into the net by his own feet, And he steps on the webbing.

Job 18:9 "A snare seizes him by the heel, And a trap snaps shut on him.

Job 18:10 "A noose for him is hidden in the ground, And a trap for him on the path.

Job 18:11 "All around terrors frighten him, And harry him at every step.

Job 18:12 "His strength is famished, And calamity is ready at his side.

Job 18:13 "His skin is devoured by disease, The firstborn of death devours his limbs.

Job 18:14 "He is torn from the security of his tent, And they march him before the king of terrors.

Job 18:15 "There dwells in his tent nothing of his; Brimstone is scattered on his habitation.

Job 18:16 "His roots are dried below, And his branch is cut off above.

Job 18:17 "Memory of him perishes from the earth, And he has no name abroad.

Job 18:18 "He is driven from light into darkness, And chased from the inhabited world.

Job 18:19 "He has no offspring or posterity among his people, Nor any survivor where he sojourned.

Job 18:20 "Those in the west are appalled at his fate, And those in the east are seized with horror.

Job 18:21 "Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, And this is the place of him who does not know God."

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Job 19:1 Then Job responded,

Job 19:2 "How long will you torment me And crush me with words?

Job 19:3 "These ten times you have insulted me; You are not ashamed to wrong me.

Job 19:4 "Even if I have truly erred, My error lodges with me.

Job 19:5 "If indeed you vaunt yourselves against me And prove my disgrace to me,

Job 19:6 Know then that God has wronged me And has closed His net around me.

Job 19:7 "Behold, I cry, 'Violence!' but I get no answer; I shout for help, but there is no justice.

Job 19:8 "He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass, And He has put darkness on my paths.

Job 19:9 "He has stripped my honor from me And removed the crown from my head.

Job 19:10 "He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone; And He has uprooted my hope like a tree.

Job 19:11 "He has also kindled His anger against me And considered me as His enemy.

Job 19:12 "His troops come together, And build up their way against me And camp around my tent.

Job 19:13 "He has removed my brothers far from me, And my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.

Job 19:14 "My relatives have failed, And my intimate friends have forgotten me.

Job 19:15 "Those who live in my house and my maids consider me a stranger. I am a foreigner in their sight.

Job 19:16 "I call to my servant, but he does not answer; I have to implore him with my mouth.

Job 19:17 "My breath is offensive to my wife, And I am loathsome to my own brothers.

Job 19:18 "Even young children despise me; I rise up and they speak against me.

Job 19:19 "All my associates abhor me, And those I love have turned against me.

Job 19:20 "My bone clings to my skin and my flesh, And I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.

Job 19:21 "Pity me, pity me, O you my friends, For the hand of God has struck me.

Job 19:22 "Why do you persecute me as God does, And are not satisfied with my flesh?

Job 19:23 "Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book!

Job 19:24 "That with an iron stylus and lead They were engraved in the rock forever!

Job 19:25 "As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last He will take His stand on the earth.

Job 19:26 "Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall see God;

Job 19:27 Whom I myself shall behold, And whom my eyes will see and not another. My heart faints within me!

Job 19:28 "If you say, 'How shall we persecute him?' And 'What pretext for a case against him can we find?'

Job 19:29 "Then be afraid of the sword for yourselves, For wrath brings the punishment of the sword, So that you may know there is judgment."

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Job 20:1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered,

Job 20:2 "Therefore my disquieting thoughts make me respond, Even because of my inward agitation.

Job 20:3 "I listened to the reproof which insults me, And the spirit of my understanding makes me answer.

Job 20:4 "Do you know this from of old, From the establishment of man on earth,

Job 20:5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short, And the joy of the godless momentary?

Job 20:6 "Though his loftiness reaches the heavens, And his head touches the clouds,

Job 20:7 He perishes forever like his refuse; Those who have seen him will say, 'Where is he?'

Job 20:8 "He flies away like a dream, and they cannot find him; Even like a vision of the night he is chased away.

Job 20:9 "The eye which saw him sees him no longer, And his place no longer beholds him.

Job 20:10 "His sons favor the poor, And his hands give back his wealth.

Job 20:11 "His bones are full of his youthful vigor, But it lies down with him in the dust.

Job 20:12 "Though evil is sweet in his mouth And he hides it under his tongue,

Job 20:13 Though he desires it and will not let it go, But holds it in his mouth,

Job 20:14 Yet his food in his stomach is changed To the venom of cobras within him.

Job 20:15 "He swallows riches, But will vomit them up; God will expel them from his belly.

Job 20:16 "He sucks the poison of cobras; The viper's tongue slays him.

Job 20:17 "He does not look at the streams, The rivers flowing with honey and curds.

Job 20:18 "He returns what he has attained And cannot swallow it; As to the riches of his trading, He cannot even enjoy them.

Job 20:19 "For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor; He has seized a house which he has not built.

Job 20:20 "Because he knew no quiet within him, He does not retain anything he desires.

Job 20:21 "Nothing remains for him to devour, Therefore his prosperity does not endure.

Job 20:22 "In the fullness of his plenty he will be cramped; The hand of everyone who suffers will come against him.

Job 20:23 "When he fills his belly, God will send His fierce anger on him And will rain it on him while he is eating.

Job 20:24 "He may flee from the iron weapon, But the bronze bow will pierce him.

Job 20:25 "It is drawn forth and comes out of his back, Even the glittering point from his gall. Terrors come upon him,

Job 20:26 Complete darkness is held in reserve for his treasures, And unfanned fire will devour him; It will consume the survivor in his tent.

Job 20:27 "The heavens will reveal his iniquity, And the earth will rise up against him.

Job 20:28 "The increase of his house will depart; His possessions will flow away in the day of His anger.

Job 20:29 "This is the wicked man's portion from God, Even the heritage decreed to him by God."