8 He has walled up my way, so that I cannot pass, and he has set darkness upon my paths. 9 He has stripped from me my glory, and taken the crown from my head. 10 He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone, and my hope has he pulled up like a tree. 11 He has kindled his wrath against me, and counts me as his adversary. 12 His troops come on together; they have cast up siegeworks against me, and encamp round about my tent. 13 "He has put my brethren far from me, and my acquaintances are wholly estranged from me. 14 My kinsfolk and my close friends have failed me; 15 the guests in my house have forgotten me; my maidservants count me as a stranger; I have become an alien in their eyes. 16 I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer; I must beseech him with my mouth. 17 I am repulsive to my wife, loathsome to the sons of my own mother. 18 Even young children despise me; when I rise they talk against me. 19 All my intimate friends abhor me, and those whom I loved have turned against me. 20 My bones cleave to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. 21 Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me! 22 Why do you, like God, pursue me? Why are you 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.