Job 19

Job's Second Reply to Bildad

¹Then Job answered,

²“How long will you torment me, and crush me with words?

³You have reproached me ten times. You aren’t ashamed that you attack me.

⁴If it is true that I have erred, my error remains with myself.

⁵If indeed you will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach,

⁶know now that God has subverted me, and has surrounded me with his net.

⁷“Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard. I cry for help, but there is no justice.

⁸He has walled up my way so that I can’t pass, and has set darkness in my paths.

⁹He has stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.

¹⁰He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone. He has plucked my hope up like a tree.

¹¹He has also kindled his wrath against me. He counts me among his adversaries.

¹²His troops come on together, build a siege ramp against me, and encamp around my tent.

¹³“He has put my brothers far from me. My acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.

¹⁴My relatives have gone away. My familiar friends have forgotten me.

¹⁵Those who dwell in my house and my maids consider me a stranger. I am an alien in their sight.

¹⁶I call to my servant, and he gives me no answer. I beg him with my mouth.

¹⁷My breath is offensive to my wife. I am loathsome to the children of my own mother.

¹⁸Even young children despise me. If I arise, they speak against me.

¹⁹All my familiar friends abhor me. They whom I loved have turned against me.

²⁰My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh. I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

²¹“Have pity on me. Have pity on me, you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me.

²²Why do you persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?

²³“Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book!

²⁴That with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever!

²⁵But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, he will stand upon the earth.

²⁶After my skin is destroyed, then I will see God in my flesh,

²⁷whom I, even I, will see on my side. My eyes will see, and not as a stranger. “My heart is consumed within me.

²⁸If you say, ‘How we will persecute him!’ because the root of the matter is found in me,

²⁹be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishments of the sword, that you may know there is a judgment.”

Previous Job 18

Next Job 20

Job responds to Bildad's second speech with deep anguish, accusing his friends of tormenting him with words and describing his complete isolation from God, family, and society. Despite his physical deterioration and social abandonment, Job makes his most famous declaration of faith, proclaiming that his Redeemer lives and that he will see God even after death. This chapter represents both the depths of Job's despair and the heights of his hope, as he moves from describing his suffering to affirming his ultimate vindication.

Context

This chapter follows Bildad's harsh second speech and precedes Zophar's final attempt to convince Job of his guilt, marking the emotional climax of the dialogue cycle.

Key Themes

Outline

1-6
Job Rebukes His Friends Job accuses his friends of tormenting him with words and declares that God has entrapped him.
7-12
God's Hostile Actions Job describes how God has blocked his path, stripped his honor, and attacked him like a military enemy.
13-22
Complete Social Isolation Job laments his abandonment by family, friends, servants, and even his wife, pleading for pity.
23-27
Declaration of Faith in His Redeemer Job expresses his desire for his words to be permanently recorded and proclaims his living Redeemer who will vindicate him.
28-29
Warning to His Friends Job warns his friends that they will face divine judgment for their persecution of him.

Job's Second Reply to Bildad

19:1–19:29

wisdom speech anguished

Job responds to Bildad by describing his complete isolation and physical deterioration, yet expresses profound hope in his Redeemer who lives. This passage contains one of the most famous declarations of faith in resurrection and vindication in the Old Testament.

person_contrast

Job's desperate cry "my redeemer lives" (v.25) marks the only time in Scripture where profound physical isolation directly births an explicit resurrection hope.

Insight Character Study

Job's desperate cry "my redeemer lives" (v.25) marks the only time in Scripture where profound physical isolation directly births an explicit resurrection hope.