Job 29-30

Contemporary English Version

29 Job said:
² I long for the past,
    when God took care of me,
³ and the light from his lamp
showed me the way
    through the dark.
⁴ I was in the prime of life,
God All-Powerful
    was my closest friend,
⁵ and all of my children
    were nearby.
⁶ My herds gave enough milk
    to bathe my feet,
and from my olive harvest
    flowed rivers of oil.
* ⁷ When I sat down at the meeting
    of the city council,
⁸ the young leaders stepped aside,
* ⁹ while the older ones stood
¹⁰     and remained silent.

¹¹ Everyone was pleased
    with what I said and did.
¹² When poor people or orphans
cried out for help,
    I came to their rescue.
¹³ And I was highly praised
for my generosity to widows
    and others in poverty.
¹⁴ Kindness and justice
    were my coat and hat;
¹⁵ I was helpful to the blind
    and to the lame.
¹⁶ I was a father to the needy,
and I defended them in court,
    even if they were strangers.
¹⁷ When criminals attacked,
I broke their teeth
    and set their victims free.

30 Young people now insult me,
    although their fathers
would have been a disgrace
    to my sheep dogs.
² And those who insult me
    are helpless themselves.
³ They must claw the desert sand
in the dark for something
    to satisfy their hunger.^[a]
4 They gather tasteless shrubs
    for food and firewood,
⁵ and they are run out of towns,
    as though they were thieves.
⁶ Their only homes are ditches
    or holes between rocks,
⁷ where they bray like donkeys
    gathering around shrubs.
⁸ And like senseless donkeys
    they are chased away.

⁹ Those worthless nobodies
make up jokes and songs
    to disgrace me.
¹⁰ They are hateful
    and keep their distance,
even while spitting
    in my direction.
¹¹ God has destroyed me,
and so they don't care
    what they do.^[b]
12 Their attacks never stop,
though I am defenseless,
    and my feet are trapped.^[c]
13 Without any help,
    they prevent my escape,
destroying me completely^[d]
14     and leaving me crushed.
¹⁵ Terror has me surrounded;
my reputation and my riches
    have vanished like a cloud.

¹⁶ I am sick at heart!
    Pain has taken its toll.
¹⁷ Night chews on my bones,
    causing endless torment,
¹⁸ and God has shrunk my skin,
    choking me to death.^[e]
19 I have been thrown in the dirt
    and now am dirt myself.
²⁰ I beg God for help,
    but there is no answer;
and when I stand up,
    he simply stares.
²¹ God has turned brutal,
²² stirring up a windstorm
    to toss me about.
²³ Soon he will send me home
to the world of the dead,
    where we all must go.