Job 30
International Standard Version
Job Describes His Current Status in Life
30 “But now they mock me;
men who are far younger than I,
whose fathers I would have hated
to entrust with my own sheep dogs.
2 Furthermore, what could I have gained
from men whose strength is gone?
3 Unproductive due to poverty[a] and hunger,
they could only scratch in parched soil,
devastated and desolated.
4 “They would pluck off herbs from salt marshes to eat;
and roots of the broom shrub[b] for food.
5 Driven away from human company,
they were shouted at as though they were thieves.
6 They lived in the most dangerous of ravines,
in holes in the ground, and among rocks.
7 They bray like donkeys[c] among the bushes
and huddle together under the desert weeds.
8 Sons of fools and of uncertain reputation,[d]
they have been driven from the land by scourging.”
Job Presents the Actions of the Mockers
9 “Now, I’ve become the object of their mocking melodies;[e]
I’m nothing but a fool’s proverb to them!
10 They abhor me—they keep their distance from me;
but they don’t refrain from spitting at the sight of me.
11 But God[f] has loosened his cord and afflicted me;
so they’ve cast off all restraints in my presence.
12 “A wretched crowd ambushes me to my right;
they trip my feet;
they build up their path of calamity for me.
13 They tear up my pathways;
they profit from my destruction,
and they need no help to do this!
14 They come like those who breach through a wall;
as everything crashes around me they’ll roll on and on!
15 My greatest fears have overcome me;
my honor is assaulted as though by a wind storm;
my prosperity evaporates like a morning cloud.”
Job Accuses God of Mistreating Him
16 “Now, my soul pours itself out;
the time of my affliction has taken control of me.
17 The night racks my bones;
and the pain that gnaws on me will not rest.
18 My clothes are disheveled by his forceful treatment of me;[g]
he restricts my movement like the collar of my cloak.
19 “He tossed me into the mire;
I’ve become like dust and ashes.
20 I cry for help to you,
but you won’t answer me;
I stand still,
but you only look at me.
21 You changed toward me, and now you’re cruel to me;
with your mighty hand you are persecuting me;
22 you carried me off in a wind storm,
making me ride on it
while you toss me about as the storm roars around me.
23 I know that you’re about to kill me,
so I’m about to go to the house that’s appointed for all the living.”
Job Lists His Hopes Despite His Deplorable Condition
24 “Surely he won’t stretch his hand against the needy, will he,
especially if they cry to him in their calamity?
25 Haven’t I wept for the one who is going through hard times?
Haven’t I grieved for the needy?
26 I have hoped for good, but evil came instead;
I have hoped for light, but darkness came.
27 I’m boiling mad inside, and I won’t remain silent;
the time for my affliction to confront me has arrived.
28 “In growing darkness, I walked without sunlight;
I stood in the congregation to cry for help.
29 I’ve become a brother to jackals,
and a friend to ostriches.
30 My skin turns black all over me;
and my bones seem burned from the heat.
31 But my harp is in mourning;
my flute plays only songs for those who are weeping.”
Footnotes
- Job 30:3 Or want
- Job 30:4 I.e. a desert bush native to Israel whose bitter roots could be harvested by the destitute and eaten when food was scarce
- Job 30:7 The Heb. lacks like donkeys
- Job 30:8 Or and without a name
- Job 30:9 Lit. their neginnoth; i.e. derogatory songs composed to mock Job
- Job 30:11 Lit. he
- Job 30:18 The Heb. lacks of me
Job 30
Lexham English Bible
Job’s Final Defense Continued
30 “But now those younger than I, as far as days, laugh at me,
whose fathers I rejected for setting with the dogs of my sheep and goats.
2 Moreover, what use to me is the strength of their hands?[a]
With them, vigor is destroyed.
3 Through want and through barren hunger
they are gnawing in the dry region in the darkness of desolation and waste.
4 They are picking salt herbs, the leaves of bushes,
and the roots of broom trees to warm themselves.
5 They were driven out from fellow people;
they shout at them as at a[b] thief,
6 so that they dwell[c]
in holes of the ground and in the rocks.
7 They bray among the bushes;
they are gathered under the nettles.
8 A senseless crowd,[d] yes, a disreputable brood,[e]
they were cast out from the land.
9 “But now I am their mocking song,
and I have become a byword for them.
10 They abhor me; they keep aloof from me,
and they do not withhold spit from my face
11 because he has loosened his bowstring and humbled me,
and they have thrown off restraint in my presence.[f]
12 On the right hand the brood rises[g] up;
they put me to flight,[h]
and they build up their siege ramps[i] against me.
13 They destroy my path;
they promote my destruction;
they have no helper.
14 As through a wide breach they come;
amid a crash they rush on.
15 Terrors are turned upon me;
my honor is pursued as by the wind,
and my hope of deliverance passed by like a cloud.
16 “And now my life is poured out onto me;
days of misery have taken hold of me.
17 At night I am in great pain;[j]
my pains do not take a rest.
18 He seizes my clothing with great power;[k]
he grasps me by my tunic’s collar.
19 He has cast me into the dirt,
and I have become like dust[l] and ashes.
20 I cry to you for help, but[m] you do not answer me;
I stand, and you merely look at me.
21 You have turned cruel to me;
you persecute me with your hand’s might.
22 You lift me up to the wind—you make me ride it,
and you toss me about in the storm.
23 Indeed, I know that you will bring me to death
and to the house of assembly for all the living.
24 “Surely someone must not send a hand against the needy
when, in his misfortune, there is a cry of help for them.
25 Have I not wept for the unfortunate,[n]
and grieved myself over the poor?
26 Indeed, I hoped for good, but evil came,
and I waited for light, but darkness came.
27 My bowels are in turmoil, and they are not still;
days of misery come to confront me.
28 I go about in mourning garb, but not in sunlight;
I stand up in the assembly, and I cry for help.
29 I am a companion for the jackals
and a companion for ostriches.[o]
30 My skin turns black on me,
and my bones burn with heat.
31 So[p] my lyre came to be used for mourning,
and my flute for the voice of those who weep.
Footnotes
- Job 30:2 Literally “the strength of their hands what is for me”
- Job 30:5 Hebrew “the”
- Job 30:6 Literally “to dwell”
- Job 30:8 Literally “sons of good-for-nothing”
- Job 30:8 Literally “sons of no name”
- Job 30:11 Literally “from my face”
- Job 30:12 Hebrew “rise”
- Job 30:12 Literally “my feet they send away”
- Job 30:12 Literally “the ways/paths of their disaster”
- Job 30:17 Literally “night my bones he pierces upon me,” or “night pierces my bones upon me”
- Job 30:18 Literally “much of strength”
- Job 30:19 Hebrew “the dust”
- Job 30:20 Hebrew “and”
- Job 30:25 Literally “hard of day”
- Job 30:29 Literally “daughters of ostrich”
- Job 30:31 Hebrew “And”
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