Job Chapter 30 to 31 : English Standard Version   | SearchSearch | Next Version | Previous Page | Next Page |

Other Versions30 30:1 “But now they laugh at me, men who are younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock. 2What could I gain from the strength of their hands, men whose vigor is gone? 3Through want and hard hunger they gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation; 4they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes, and the roots of the broom tree for their food.[1] 5They are driven out from human company; they shout after them as after a thief. 6In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell, in holes of the earth and of the rocks. 7Among the bushes they bray; under the nettles they huddle together. 8A senseless, a nameless brood, they have been whipped out of the land.

9“And now I have become their song; I am a byword to them. 10They abhor me; they keep aloof from me; they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me. 11Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me, they have cast off restraint[2] in my presence. 12On my right hand the rabble rise; they push away my feet; they cast up against me their ways of destruction. 13They break up my path; they promote my calamity; they need no one to help them. 14As through a wide breach they come; amid the crash they roll on. 15Terrors are turned upon me; my honor is pursued as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.

16“And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold of me. 17The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest. 18With great force my garment is disfigured; it binds me about like the collar of my tunic. 19God[3] has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes. 20I cry to you for help and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me. 21You have turned cruel to me; with the might of your hand you persecute me. 22You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it, and you toss me about in the roar of the storm. 23For I know that you will bring me to death and to the house appointed for all living.

24“Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand, and in his disaster cry for help?[4] 25Did not I weep for him whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy? 26But when I hoped for good, evil came, and when I waited for light, darkness came. 27My inward parts are in turmoil and never still; days of affliction come to meet me. 28I go about darkened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help. 29I am a brother of jackals and a companion of ostriches. 30My skin turns black and falls from me, and my bones burn with heat. 31My lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.

[1] Or warmth  [2] Hebrew the bridle  [3] Hebrew He  [4] The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain


31Job’s Final Appeal

31:1 “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin? 2What would be my portion from God above and my heritage from the Almighty on high? 3Is not calamity for the unrighteous, and disaster for the workers of iniquity? 4Does not he see my ways and number all my steps?

5“If I have walked with falsehood and my foot has hastened to deceit; 6(Let me be weighed in a just balance, and let God know my integrity!) 7if my step has turned aside from the way and my heart has gone after my eyes, and if any spot has stuck to my hands, 8then let me sow, and another eat, and let what grows for me[5] be rooted out.

9“If my heart has been enticed toward a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door, 10then let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down on her. 11For that would be a heinous crime; that would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges; 12for that would be a fire that consumes as far as Abaddon, and it would burn to the root all my increase.

13“If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant, when they brought a complaint against me, 14what then shall I do when God rises up? When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him? 15Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?

16“If I have withheld anything that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, 17or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it 18 for from my youth the fatherless[6] grew up with me as with a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow[7]), 19if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or the needy without covering, 20if his body has not blessed me, and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep, 21if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate, 22then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder, and let my arm be broken from its socket. 23For I was in terror of calamity from God, and I could not have faced his majesty.

24“If I have made gold my trust or called fine gold my confidence, 25if I have rejoiced because my wealth was abundant or because my hand had found much, 26if I have looked at the sun[8] when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor, 27and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand, 28this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have been false to God above.

29“If I have rejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me, or exulted when evil overtook him 30(I have not let my mouth sin by asking for his life with a curse), 31if the men of my tent have not said, ‘Who is there that has not been filled with his meat?’ 32(the sojourner has not lodged in the street; I have opened my doors to the traveler), 33if I have concealed my transgressions as others do[9] by hiding my iniquity in my bosom, 34because I stood in great fear of the multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors— 35Oh, that I had one to hear me! (Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me!) Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary! 36Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it on me as a crown; 37I would give him an account of all my steps; like a prince I would approach him.

38“If my land has cried out against me and its furrows have wept together, 39if I have eaten its yield without payment and made its owners breathe their last, 40let thorns grow instead of wheat, and foul weeds instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.

[5] Or let my descendants  [6] Hebrew he  [7] Hebrew her  [8] Hebrew the light  [9] Or as Adam did

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