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Job 29-30
The Message
Job 29-30
The Message
When God Was Still by My Side
29 1-6 Job now resumed his response:
“Oh, how I long for the good old days,
when God took such very good care of me.
He always held a lamp before me
and I walked through the dark by its light.
Oh, how I miss those golden years
when God’s friendship graced my home,
When the Mighty One was still by my side
and my children were all around me,
When everything was going my way,
and nothing seemed too difficult.
7-20 “When I walked downtown
and sat with my friends in the public square,
Young and old greeted me with respect;
I was honored by everyone in town.
When I spoke, everyone listened;
they hung on my every word.
People who knew me spoke well of me;
my reputation went ahead of me.
I was known for helping people in trouble
and standing up for those who were down on their luck.
The dying blessed me,
and the bereaved were cheered by my visits.
All my dealings with people were good.
I was known for being fair to everyone I met.
I was eyes to the blind
and feet to the lame,
Father to the needy,
and champion of abused aliens.
I grabbed street thieves by the scruff of the neck
and made them give back what they’d stolen.
I thought, ‘I’ll die peacefully in my own bed,
grateful for a long and full life,
A life deep-rooted and well-watered,
a life limber and dew-fresh,
My soul soaked through with glory
and my body robust until the day I die.’
21-25 “Men and women listened when I spoke,
hung expectantly on my every word.
After I spoke, they’d be quiet,
taking it all in.
They welcomed my counsel like spring rain,
drinking it all in.
When I smiled at them, they could hardly believe it;
their faces lit up, their troubles took wing!
I was their leader, establishing the mood
and setting the pace by which they lived.
Where I led, they followed.”
The Pain Never Lets Up
30 1-8 “But no longer. Now I’m the butt of their jokes—
young thugs! whippersnappers!
Why, I considered their fathers
mere inexperienced pups.
But they are worse than dogs—good for nothing,
stray, mangy animals,
Half-starved, scavenging the back alleys,
howling at the moon;
Homeless ragamuffins
chewing on old bones and licking old tin cans;
Outcasts from the community,
cursed as dangerous delinquents.
Nobody would put up with them;
they were driven from the neighborhood.
You could hear them out there at the edge of town,
yelping and barking, huddled in junkyards,
A gang of beggars and no-names,
thrown out on their ears.
9-15 “But now I’m the one they’re after,
mistreating me, taunting and mocking.
They abhor me, they abuse me.
How dare those scoundrels—they spit in my face!
Now that God has undone me and left me in a heap,
they hold nothing back. Anything goes.
They come at me from my blind side,
trip me up, then jump on me while I’m down.
They throw every kind of obstacle in my path,
determined to ruin me—
and no one lifts a finger to help me!
They violate my broken body,
trample through the rubble of my ruined life.
Terrors assault me—
my dignity in shreds,
salvation up in smoke.
16-19 “And now my life drains out,
as suffering seizes and grips me hard.
Night gnaws at my bones;
the pain never lets up.
I am tied hand and foot, my neck in a noose.
I twist and turn.
Thrown facedown in the muck,
I’m a muddy mess, inside and out.
What Did I Do to Deserve This?
20-23 “I shout for help, God, and get nothing, no answer!
I stand to face you in protest, and you give me a blank stare!
You’ve turned into my tormenter—
you slap me around, knock me about.
You raised me up so I was riding high
and then dropped me, and I crashed.
I know you’re determined to kill me,
to put me six feet under.
24-31 “What did I do to deserve this?
Did I ever hit anyone who was calling for help?
Haven’t I wept for those who live a hard life,
been heartsick over the lot of the poor?
But where did it get me?
I expected good but evil showed up.
I looked for light but darkness fell.
My stomach’s in a constant churning, never settles down.
Each day confronts me with more suffering.
I walk under a black cloud. The sun is gone.
I stand in the congregation and protest.
I howl with the jackals,
I hoot with the owls.
I’m black-and-blue all over,
burning up with fever.
My fiddle plays nothing but the blues;
my mouth harp wails laments.”
Job 29-30
New International Version
Job 29-30
New International Version
Job’s Final Defense
29 Job continued his discourse:(A)
2 “How I long for the months gone by,(B)
for the days when God watched over me,(C)
3 when his lamp shone on my head
and by his light I walked through darkness!(D)
4 Oh, for the days when I was in my prime,
when God’s intimate friendship(E) blessed my house,(F)
5 when the Almighty was still with me
and my children(G) were around me,(H)
6 when my path was drenched with cream(I)
and the rock(J) poured out for me streams of olive oil.(K)
7 “When I went to the gate(L) of the city
and took my seat in the public square,
8 the young men saw me and stepped aside(M)
and the old men rose to their feet;(N)
9 the chief men refrained from speaking(O)
and covered their mouths with their hands;(P)
10 the voices of the nobles were hushed,(Q)
and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.(R)
11 Whoever heard me spoke well of me,
and those who saw me commended me,(S)
12 because I rescued the poor(T) who cried for help,
and the fatherless(U) who had none to assist them.(V)
13 The one who was dying blessed me;(W)
I made the widow’s(X) heart sing.
14 I put on righteousness(Y) as my clothing;
justice was my robe and my turban.(Z)
15 I was eyes(AA) to the blind
and feet to the lame.(AB)
16 I was a father to the needy;(AC)
I took up the case(AD) of the stranger.(AE)
17 I broke the fangs of the wicked
and snatched the victims(AF) from their teeth.(AG)
18 “I thought, ‘I will die in my own house,
my days as numerous as the grains of sand.(AH)
19 My roots will reach to the water,(AI)
and the dew will lie all night on my branches.(AJ)
20 My glory will not fade;(AK)
the bow(AL) will be ever new in my hand.’(AM)
21 “People listened to me expectantly,
waiting in silence for my counsel.(AN)
22 After I had spoken, they spoke no more;(AO)
my words fell gently on their ears.(AP)
23 They waited for me as for showers
and drank in my words as the spring rain.(AQ)
24 When I smiled at them, they scarcely believed it;
the light of my face(AR) was precious to them.[a](AS)
25 I chose the way for them and sat as their chief;(AT)
I dwelt as a king(AU) among his troops;
I was like one who comforts mourners.(AV)
30 “But now they mock me,(AW)
men younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
to put with my sheep dogs.(AX)
2 Of what use was the strength of their hands to me,
since their vigor had gone from them?
3 Haggard from want and hunger,
they roamed[b] the parched land(AY)
in desolate wastelands(AZ) at night.(BA)
4 In the brush they gathered salt herbs,(BB)
and their food[c] was the root of the broom bush.(BC)
5 They were banished from human society,
shouted at as if they were thieves.
6 They were forced to live in the dry stream beds,
among the rocks and in holes in the ground.(BD)
7 They brayed(BE) among the bushes(BF)
and huddled in the undergrowth.
8 A base and nameless brood,(BG)
they were driven out of the land.(BH)
9 “And now those young men mock me(BI) in song;(BJ)
I have become a byword(BK) among them.
10 They detest me(BL) and keep their distance;
they do not hesitate to spit in my face.(BM)
11 Now that God has unstrung my bow(BN) and afflicted me,(BO)
they throw off restraint(BP) in my presence.
12 On my right(BQ) the tribe[d] attacks;
they lay snares(BR) for my feet,(BS)
they build their siege ramps against me.(BT)
13 They break up my road;(BU)
they succeed in destroying me.(BV)
‘No one can help him,’ they say.
14 They advance as through a gaping breach;(BW)
amid the ruins they come rolling in.
15 Terrors(BX) overwhelm me;(BY)
my dignity is driven away as by the wind,
my safety vanishes like a cloud.(BZ)
16 “And now my life ebbs away;(CA)
days of suffering grip me.(CB)
17 Night pierces my bones;
my gnawing pains never rest.(CC)
18 In his great power(CD) God becomes like clothing to me[e];
he binds me like the neck of my garment.
19 He throws me into the mud,(CE)
and I am reduced to dust and ashes.(CF)
20 “I cry out to you,(CG) God, but you do not answer;(CH)
I stand up, but you merely look at me.
21 You turn on me ruthlessly;(CI)
with the might of your hand(CJ) you attack me.(CK)
22 You snatch me up and drive me before the wind;(CL)
you toss me about in the storm.(CM)
23 I know you will bring me down to death,(CN)
to the place appointed for all the living.(CO)
24 “Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man(CP)
when he cries for help in his distress.(CQ)
25 Have I not wept for those in trouble?(CR)
Has not my soul grieved for the poor?(CS)
26 Yet when I hoped for good, evil came;
when I looked for light, then came darkness.(CT)
27 The churning inside me never stops;(CU)
days of suffering confront me.(CV)
28 I go about blackened,(CW) but not by the sun;
I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.(CX)
29 I have become a brother of jackals,(CY)
a companion of owls.(CZ)
30 My skin grows black(DA) and peels;(DB)
my body burns with fever.(DC)
31 My lyre is tuned to mourning,(DD)
and my pipe(DE) to the sound of wailing.
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.