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Job Talks about His Present Misery

30 “But now those who are younger than I am laugh at me.
    I didn’t think their fathers were fit to sit with the dogs of my flock.
Of what use to me was the strength of their hands?
    Their strength is gone.
        Shriveled up from need and hunger,
            they gnaw at the dry and barren ground during the night.[a]
        They pick saltwort from the underbrush,
            and the roots of the broom plant are their food.[b]
        They are driven from the community.
            People shout at them in the same way they shout at thieves.
        They have to live in dry riverbeds,
            in holes in the ground, and among rocks.
        They howl in bushes
            and huddle together under thornbushes.
        Godless fools and worthless people
            are forced out of the land with whips.

“And now they make fun of me with songs.
    I have become a joke to them.
10 Since they consider me disgusting, they keep their distance from me
    and don’t hesitate to spit in my face.
11 Because God has untied my cord and has made me suffer,
    they are no longer restrained in my presence.
12 They have attacked me on my right side like a mob.
    They trip my feet
    and then prepare ways to destroy me.[c]
13 Yes, they remove all traces of my path in order to destroy me.
    No one is there to help me against them.
14 They come through a wide hole in the wall.
    They crawl through the ruins.
15 Terrors are directed toward me.
    They blow away my dignity like the wind.
    My prosperity vanishes like a cloud.

16 “Now my life is pouring out of me.
    Days of suffering seize me.
17 At night God pierces my bones.
    My body[d] doesn’t rest.
18 With great strength he grabs my clothes.
    He seizes me by the collar of my robe.
19 He throws me into the dirt
    so that I become like dust and ashes.

Job Calls on God for Help

20 “I call to you for help,
    but you don’t answer me.
        I stand up, but you just look at me.
21 You have begun to treat me cruelly.
    With your mighty hand you assault me.
22 You pick me up and let the wind carry me away.
    You toss me around with a storm.
23 I know you will lead me to death,
    to the dwelling place appointed for all living beings.

Job Says: I Am Being Punished by God

24 “But God doesn’t stretch out his hand against one who is ruined
    when that person calls for help in his disaster.
25 Didn’t I cry for the person whose days were difficult?
    Didn’t my soul grieve for the poor?
26 When I waited for good, evil came.
    When I looked for light, darkness came.
27 My insides are churning and won’t calm down.
    Days of misery are ahead of me.
28 I walk in the dark without the sun.
    I stand up in public and call for help.
29 I’m a brother to jackals
    and a companion of ostriches.
30 My skin turns dark and peels.
    My body burns with fever.
31 So my lyre is used for mourning
    and my flute for loud weeping.

Footnotes

  1. Job 30:3 Hebrew meaning of this line uncertain.
  2. Job 30:4 Or “they use the roots of the broom plant for warmth.”
  3. Job 30:12 Hebrew meaning of this verse uncertain.
  4. Job 30:17 Hebrew meaning uncertain.

30 “But now they mock me,(A)
    men younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
    to put with my sheep dogs.(B)
Of what use was the strength of their hands to me,
    since their vigor had gone from them?
Haggard from want and hunger,
    they roamed[a] the parched land(C)
    in desolate wastelands(D) at night.(E)
In the brush they gathered salt herbs,(F)
    and their food[b] was the root of the broom bush.(G)
They were banished from human society,
    shouted at as if they were thieves.
They were forced to live in the dry stream beds,
    among the rocks and in holes in the ground.(H)
They brayed(I) among the bushes(J)
    and huddled in the undergrowth.
A base and nameless brood,(K)
    they were driven out of the land.(L)

“And now those young men mock me(M) in song;(N)
    I have become a byword(O) among them.
10 They detest me(P) and keep their distance;
    they do not hesitate to spit in my face.(Q)
11 Now that God has unstrung my bow(R) and afflicted me,(S)
    they throw off restraint(T) in my presence.
12 On my right(U) the tribe[c] attacks;
    they lay snares(V) for my feet,(W)
    they build their siege ramps against me.(X)
13 They break up my road;(Y)
    they succeed in destroying me.(Z)
    ‘No one can help him,’ they say.
14 They advance as through a gaping breach;(AA)
    amid the ruins they come rolling in.
15 Terrors(AB) overwhelm me;(AC)
    my dignity is driven away as by the wind,
    my safety vanishes like a cloud.(AD)

16 “And now my life ebbs away;(AE)
    days of suffering grip me.(AF)
17 Night pierces my bones;
    my gnawing pains never rest.(AG)
18 In his great power(AH) God becomes like clothing to me[d];
    he binds me like the neck of my garment.
19 He throws me into the mud,(AI)
    and I am reduced to dust and ashes.(AJ)

20 “I cry out to you,(AK) God, but you do not answer;(AL)
    I stand up, but you merely look at me.
21 You turn on me ruthlessly;(AM)
    with the might of your hand(AN) you attack me.(AO)
22 You snatch me up and drive me before the wind;(AP)
    you toss me about in the storm.(AQ)
23 I know you will bring me down to death,(AR)
    to the place appointed for all the living.(AS)

24 “Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man(AT)
    when he cries for help in his distress.(AU)
25 Have I not wept for those in trouble?(AV)
    Has not my soul grieved for the poor?(AW)
26 Yet when I hoped for good, evil came;
    when I looked for light, then came darkness.(AX)
27 The churning inside me never stops;(AY)
    days of suffering confront me.(AZ)
28 I go about blackened,(BA) but not by the sun;
    I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.(BB)
29 I have become a brother of jackals,(BC)
    a companion of owls.(BD)
30 My skin grows black(BE) and peels;(BF)
    my body burns with fever.(BG)
31 My lyre is tuned to mourning,(BH)
    and my pipe(BI) to the sound of wailing.

Footnotes

  1. Job 30:3 Or gnawed
  2. Job 30:4 Or fuel
  3. Job 30:12 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
  4. Job 30:18 Hebrew; Septuagint power he grasps my clothing

30 But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.

Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished?

For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.

Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat.

They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;)

To dwell in the cliffs of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks.

Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.

They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.

And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword.

10 They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.

11 Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.

12 Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.

13 They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.

14 They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.

15 Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.

16 And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.

17 My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.

18 By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.

19 He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.

20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not.

21 Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.

22 Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance.

23 For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.

24 Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.

25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?

26 When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.

27 My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.

28 I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.

29 I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.

30 My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.

31 My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.