Urban Word Bible

Job 19

Read Job 19 in clear, relatable modern language.

Job Calls Out His Friends

1 Then Job spoke up and said,

2 “How long are you all going to crush me with your words, breaking me down over and over,

3 You have insulted me ten times already, with no shame in grinding me down.

4 Even if I slipped up, that is on me, not on you all.

5 But if you want to act big over me, throwing shade about my disgrace.

6 Then know this: it is God who trapped me, boxed me in.

7 I scream ‘Violence!’ but no one listens; I cry for help, but no justice comes.

8 God blocked my path, I cannot move; He covered my roads in darkness.

9 He stripped me of my honor, snatched the crown off my head.

10 He tears me down on every side ‘til I am gone, uproots my hope like a tree.

11 His anger burns against me, He counts me as His enemy.

12 His troops storm in together, build ramps against me, surround my tent.

13 My brothers stay far from me; my homies do not even know me anymore.

14 My close friends and relatives dip out, my guests forget me.

15 The ones working in my crib treat me like a stranger; I am a foreigner to them.

16 I call my servant, but he will not answer, even when I beg him.

17 My wife cannot stand my breath, my own siblings avoid me.

18 Even kids disrespect me; when I stand up, they mock me.

19 All my close friends hate me now; the ones I loved turned on me.

20 I am skin and bones, barely escaped with my life.

21 Have mercy on me, my friends, have mercy, because God’s hand hit me hard.

22 Why chase me down like God does, is it not enough that He crushed me,

23 Oh, I wish my words were written, carved in stone forever.

24 That they would be engraved with an iron tool, filled with lead, set solid in rock.

25 But I know my Redeemer lives, and at the end, He is going to stand on this earth.

26 After my skin’s destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.

27 I myself will see Him with my own eyes, I, not another. My heart’s burning inside me for this hope.

28 If you say, ‘How we are going to hound him more, since the root of his trouble is in him?’

29 Watch out, judgment is coming. The sword brings wrath, so you will know there is justice.”