8 He has walled up my way so that I can’t pass,
and has set darkness in my paths. 9 He has stripped me of my glory,
and taken the crown from my head. 10 He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone.
My hope he has plucked up like a tree. 11 He has also kindled his wrath against me.
He counts me among his adversaries. 12 His 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. 14 My relatives have gone away.
My familiar friends have forgotten me. 15 Those who dwell in my house, and my maids, count me for a stranger.
I am an alien in their sight. 16 I call to my servant, and he gives me no answer.
I beg him with my mouth. 17 My breath is offensive to my wife.
I am loathsome to the children of my own mother. 18 Even young children despise me.
If I arise, they speak against me. 19 All my familiar friends abhor me.
They whom I loved have turned against me. 20 My 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. 22 Why do you persecute me as God,
and are not satisfied with my flesh?
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Job 19:8-22
Commentary on Job 19:8-22
(Read Job 19:8-22)
How doleful are Job's complaints! What is the fire of hell but the wrath of God! Seared consciences will feel it hereafter, but do not fear it now: enlightened consciences fear it now, but shall not feel it hereafter. It is a very common mistake to think that those whom God afflicts he treats as his enemies. Every creature is that to us which God makes it to be; yet this does not excuse Job's relations and friends. How uncertain is the friendship of men! but if God be our Friend, he will not fail us in time of need. What little reason we have to indulge the body, which, after all our care, is consumed by diseases it has in itself. Job recommends himself to the compassion of his friends, and justly blames their harshness. It is very distressing to one who loves God, to be bereaved at once of outward comfort and of inward consolation; yet if this, and more, come upon a believer, it does not weaken the proof of his being a child of God and heir of glory.