Job 30-31

Common English Bible

30 But now those younger than I mock me,
    whose fathers I refused to put beside my sheepdogs.
² Their strength, what’s it to me,
    their energy having perished?
³ Stiff from want and hunger,
    those who gnaw dry ground,
    yesterday’s desolate waste,
⁴     who pluck off the leaves on a bush,
    the root of the broom—
    a shrub is their food.
⁵ People banish them from society,
        shout at them as if to a thief;
⁶     so they live in scary ravines,
        holes in the ground and rocks.
⁷ Among shrubs, they make sounds like donkeys;
    they are huddled together under a bush,
⁸     children of fools and the nameless,
        whipped out of the land.

⁹ And now I’m their song;
    I’m their cliché!
¹⁰ They detest me, keep their distance,
    don’t withhold spit from my face.
¹¹ Because he loosened my bowstring and afflicted me,
    they throw off restraint in my presence.
¹² On the right, upstarts^[a] rise and target my feet,
    build their siege ramps against me,
¹³     destroy my road, profit from my fall,
        with no help.
¹⁴ They advance as if through a destroyed wall;^[b]
    they roll along beneath the ruin.
¹⁵ Terrors crash upon me;
    they sweep away my honor like wind;
        my safety disappears like a cloud.

¹⁶ Now my life is poured out on me;
    days of misery have seized me.
¹⁷ At night he bores my bones;
    my gnawing pain won’t rest.
¹⁸ With great force he grasps^[c] my clothing;^[d]
    it binds me like the neck of my shirt.
¹⁹ He hurls me into mud;
    I’m a cliché, like dust and ashes.
²⁰ I cry to you, and you don’t answer;
    I stand up, but you just look at me.
²¹ You are cruel to me,
    attack me with the strength of your hand.
²² You lift me to the wind and make me ride;
    you melt me in its roar.
²³ I know you will return me to death,
    the house appointed for all the living.

²⁴ Surely he won’t strike someone in ruins
        if in distress he cries out to him,
²⁵     if I didn’t weep for those who have a difficult day
        or my soul grieve for the needy;
²⁶     for I awaited good, but evil came;
        I expected light, but gloom arrived.
²⁷ My insides, churning, are never quiet;
    days of affliction confront me.
²⁸ I walk in the dark, lacking sunshine;
    I rise in the assembly and cry out.
²⁹ I have become a brother to jackals,
    a companion to young ostriches.
³⁰ My skin is charred;
    my bones are scorched by the heat.
³¹ My lyre is for mourning,
    my flute, a weeping sound.

31 I’ve made a covenant with my eyes;
    how could I look at a virgin?
² What is God’s portion for me^[e] from above,
    the Almighty’s inheritance from on high?
³ Isn’t it disaster for the wicked,
    destruction for workers of iniquity?
⁴ Doesn’t he see my ways,
    count all my steps?

⁵ If I have walked with frauds
        or my feet have hurried to deceit,
⁶     let him weigh me on accurate scales;
        let God know my integrity.
⁷ If my step has turned from the way,
        if my heart has followed my eyes
        or a blemish has clung to my hands,
⁸     then let me sow and another reap;
        let my offspring be uprooted.

⁹ If my heart has been drawn to a woman
        and I have lurked at my neighbor’s door,
¹⁰     then may my wife grind for another
        and others kneel over her;
¹¹     for that’s a crime;
        it’s a punishable offense;
¹²     indeed, it’s a fire that consumes to the underworld,^[f]
        uprooting all my harvest.

¹³ If I’ve rejected the just cause of my male or female servant
        when they contended with me,
¹⁴     what could I do when God rises;
        when he requires an account, what could I answer?
¹⁵ Didn’t the one who made me in the belly make them;
    didn’t the same one fashion us in the womb?

¹⁶ If I have denied what the poor wanted,
        made a widow’s eyes tired,
¹⁷     eaten my morsel alone,
        and not shared any with an orphan
(¹⁸     for from my youth I raised the orphan as a father,
        and from my mother’s womb I led the widow);^[g]
19     if I ever saw someone dying without clothes, the needy naked;
²⁰     if they haven’t blessed me fervently,^[h]
        or if they weren’t warmed by the wool from my sheep;
²¹     if I have lifted my hand against the orphans,
        when I saw that I had help in the city gate—
²²     may my arm fall from my shoulder,
        my forearm be broken at the elbow—
²³     for God’s calamity is terror to me;
        I couldn’t endure his splendor.

²⁴ If I’ve made gold my trust,
        said to fine gold: “My security!”
²⁵     if I’ve rejoiced because my wealth was great,
        when my hand found plenty;
²⁶     if I’ve looked at the sun when it shone,
        the moon, splendid as it moved;
²⁷     and my mind has been secretly enticed,
        and threw a kiss with my hand,
²⁸     that also is a punishable offense,
        because I would then be disloyal to God above.

²⁹ If I have rejoiced over my foes’ ruin
        or was excited when evil found them,
³⁰     I didn’t let my mouth sin
        by asking for their life with a curse.
³¹ Surely those in my tent never said:
    “Who has been filled by Job’s food?”
³² A stranger didn’t spend the night in the street;
    I opened my doors to the road.

³³ If I have hidden my transgressions like Adam,^[i]
        concealing my offenses inside me
³⁴     because I feared the large crowd;
        the clan’s contempt frightened me;
    I was quiet and didn’t venture outside.

³⁵ Oh, that I had someone to hear me!
    Here’s my signature;^[j]
    let the Almighty respond,
    and let my accuser write an indictment.
³⁶ Surely I would bear it on my shoulder,
    tie it around me like a wreath.
³⁷ I would give him an account of my steps,
    approach him like a prince.

³⁸ If my land has cried out against me,
    its rows wept together;
³⁹ if I have eaten its yield without payment
        and caused its owners grief,
⁴⁰     may briars grow instead of wheat,
        poisonous weeds instead of barley.