19 All my breastplates abhor me, and those whom I loved have turned against me.

20 My bones cleaved to my skin and my flesh, and I remained only with the skin about my teeth.

21 Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, my friends, for the hand of God has touched me.

22 Why do you also persecute me as God, and in my flesh you cannot be satisfied?

23 Oh, that my words were written! If they were written in a book

24 With an iron chisel with tin, – they were carved on stone for eternity!

25 And I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will raise up from the dust at the last day this skin that is decaying,

26 And I in my flesh will see God.

27 I will see him myself; my eyes, not the eyes of another, will see Him. My heart faints in my bosom!

28 You ought to have said, Why do we pursue him? As if the root of evil was found in me.

29 Fear the sword, for the sword is the avenger of iniquity, and know that there is judgment.

Chapter 20

1 And Zophar the Naamitite answered and said,

2 My reflections impel me to answer, and I hasten to express them.

3 I have heard the reproach that is shameful to me, and the spirit of my understanding will answer for me.

4 Do you not know that from eternity, from the time that man was placed on the earth,

5 веселье беззаконных кратковременно, и радость лицемера мгновенна?

6 Хотя бы возросло до небес величие его, и голова его касалась облаков, –

7 как помет его, на веки пропадает он; видевшие его скажут: где он?

8 Как сон, улетит, и не найдут его; и, как ночное видение, исчезнет.

9 Глаз, видевший его, больше не увидит его, и уже не усмотрит его место его.