I Know That God Lives

13-20 “God alienated my family from me;
    everyone who knows me avoids me.
My relatives and friends have all left;
    houseguests forget I ever existed.
The servant girls treat me like a deadbeat off the street,
    look at me like they’ve never seen me before.
I call my attendant and he ignores me,
    ignores me even though I plead with him.
My wife can’t stand to be around me anymore.
    I’m repulsive to my family.
Even street urchins despise me;
    when I come out, they taunt and jeer.
Everyone I’ve ever been close to abhors me;
    my dearest loved ones reject me.
I’m nothing but a bag of bones;
    my life hangs by a thread.

21-22 “Oh, friends, dear friends, take pity on me.
    God has come down hard on me!
Do you have to be hard on me, too?
    Don’t you ever tire of abusing me?

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19 All my intimate friends(A) detest me;(B)
    those I love have turned against me.(C)
20 I am nothing but skin and bones;(D)
    I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.[a]

21 “Have pity on me, my friends,(E) have pity,
    for the hand of God has struck(F) me.

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Footnotes

  1. Job 19:20 Or only by my gums