Job 30–32

1“But now those who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I considered unworthy to put with my sheep dogs.

2Of what use is the strength of their hands to me, men in whom ripe age has perished?

3They are gaunt from lack and famine. They gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of waste and desolation.

4They pluck salt herbs by the bushes. The roots of the broom tree are their food.

5They are driven out from among men. They cry after them as after a thief,

6so that they live in frightful valleys, and in holes of the earth and of the rocks.

7They bray among the bushes. They are gathered together under the nettles.

8They are children of fools, yes, children of wicked men. They were flogged out of the land.

9“Now I have become their song. Yes, I am a byword to them.

10They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, and don’t hesitate to spit in my face.

11For he has untied his cord, and afflicted me; and they have thrown off restraint before me.

12On my right hand rise the rabble. They thrust aside my feet. They cast their ways of destruction up against me.

13They mar my path. They promote my destruction without anyone’s help.

14As through a wide breach they come. They roll themselves in amid the ruin.

15Terrors have turned on me. They chase my honor as the wind. My welfare has passed away as a cloud.

16“Now my soul is poured out within me. Days of affliction have taken hold of me.

17In the night season my bones are pierced in me, and the pains that gnaw me take no rest.

18My garment is disfigured by great force. It binds me about as the collar of my tunic.

19He has cast me into the mire. I have become like dust and ashes.

20I cry to you, and you do not answer me. I stand up, and you gaze at me.

21You have turned to be cruel to me. With the might of your hand you persecute me.

22You lift me up to the wind, and drive me with it. You dissolve me in the storm.

23For I know that you will bring me to death, to the house appointed for all living.

24“However doesn’t one stretch out a hand in his fall? Or in his calamity therefore cry for help?

25Didn’t I weep for him who was in trouble? Wasn’t my soul grieved for the needy?

26When I looked for good, then evil came. When I waited for light, darkness came.

27My heart is troubled, and doesn’t rest. Days of affliction have come on me.

28I go mourning without the sun. I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.

29I am a brother to jackals, and a companion to ostriches.

30My skin grows black and peels from me. My bones are burned with heat.

31Therefore my harp has turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of those who weep.

1“I made a covenant with my eyes; how then should I look lustfully at a young woman?

2For what is the portion from God above, and the heritage from the Almighty on high?

3Is it not calamity to the unrighteous, and disaster to the workers of iniquity?

4Doesn’t he see my ways, and count all my steps?

5“If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hurried to deceit

6(let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know my integrity);

7if my step has turned out of the way, if my heart walked after my eyes, if any defilement has stuck to my hands,

8then let me sow, and let another eat. Yes, let the produce of my field be rooted out.

9“If my heart has been enticed to a woman, and I have laid wait at my neighbor’s door,

10then let my wife grind for another, and let others sleep with her.

11For that would be a heinous crime. Yes, it would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges,

12for it is a fire that consumes to destruction, and would root out all my increase.

13“If I have despised the cause of my male servant or of my female servant, when they contended with me,

14what then will I do when God rises up? When he visits, what will I answer him?

15Didn’t he who made me in the womb make him? Didn’t one fashion us in the womb?

16“If I have withheld the poor from their desire, 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(no, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, I have guided her from my mother’s womb);

19if I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or that the needy had no covering;

20if his heart hasn’t blessed me, if he hasn’t been warmed with my sheep’s fleece;

21if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate;

22then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder blade, and my arm be broken from the bone.

23For calamity from God is a terror to me. Because of his majesty, I can do nothing.

24“If I have made gold my hope, and have said to the fine gold, ‘You are my confidence;’

25If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much;

26if I have seen the sun when it shined, or the moon moving in splendor,

27and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth;

28this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have denied the God who is above.

29“If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him

30(I have certainly not allowed my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse);

31if the men of my tent have not said, ‘Who can find one who has not been filled with his meat?’

32(the foreigner has not camped in the street, but I have opened my doors to the traveler);

33if like Adam I have covered my transgressions, by hiding my iniquity in my heart,

34because I feared the great multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and didn’t go out of the door—

35oh that I had one to hear me! Behold, here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me! Let the accuser write my indictment!

36Surely I would carry it on my shoulder, and I would bind it to me as a crown.

37I would declare to him the number of my steps. I would go near to him like a prince.

38If my land cries out against me, and its furrows weep together;

39if I have eaten its fruits without money, or have caused its owners to lose their life,

40let briers grow instead of wheat, and stinkweed instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.

1So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.

2Then the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel, the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was kindled against Job. His wrath was kindled because he justified himself rather than God.

3Also his wrath was kindled against his three friends, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.

4Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job, because they were older than he.

5When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, his wrath was kindled.

6Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered, “I am young, and you are very old. Therefore I held back, and didn’t dare show you my opinion.

7I said, ‘Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.’

8But there is a spirit in man, and the Spirit of the Almighty gives them understanding.

9It is not the great who are wise, nor the aged who understand justice.

10Therefore I said, ‘Listen to me; I also will show my opinion.’

11“Behold, I waited for your words, and I listened for your reasoning, while you searched out what to say.

12Yes, I gave you my full attention, but there was no one who convinced Job, or who answered his words, among you.

13Beware lest you say, ‘We have found wisdom. God may refute him, not man;’

14for he has not directed his words against me; neither will I answer him with your speeches.

15“They are amazed. They answer no more. They don’t have a word to say.

16Shall I wait, because they don’t speak, because they stand still, and answer no more?

17I also will answer my part, and I also will show my opinion.

18For I am full of words. The spirit within me constrains me.

19Behold, my breast is as wine which has no vent; like new wineskins it is ready to burst.

20I will speak, that I may be refreshed. I will open my lips and answer.

21Please don’t let me respect any man’s person, neither will I give flattering titles to any man.

22For I don’t know how to give flattering titles, or else my Maker would soon take me away.