Job 30:1-31 - Job's Final Defense Continued

¹ Men younger than I am make fun of me now! Their fathers have always been so worthless that I would not let them help dogs guard sheep. ² They were a bunch of worn-out men, too weak to do any work for me. ³ Shriveled up from need and hunger, they gnaw at the dry and barren ground during the night. ⁴ They pick mallow (salt herb) from the underbrush, and the roots of the broom plant are their food. ⁵ They are driven from the community. People shout at them in the same way they shout at thieves. ⁶ They have to live in dry riverbeds (the clefts of the valleys) (wadis), in holes in the ground, and among rocks. ⁷ They howl in bushes and huddle together under thorn bushes. ⁸ Godless fools and worthless people are forced out of the land with whips.

⁹ Now they make fun of me with songs. I have become a joke to them. ¹⁰ Since they consider me disgusting, they keep their distance from me and don't hesitate to spit in my face. ¹¹ Because God has untied my cord and has made me suffer, they are no longer restrained in my presence. ¹² They have attacked me on my right side like a mob. They trip my feet and then prepare ways to destroy me. ¹³ They break up my path, they promote my calamity and no one restrains them! ¹⁴ As through a wide breach they come. Amid the crash they roll on. ¹⁵ Terrorists turn on me; my honor is pursued as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.

¹⁶ Now I am poured out, the days of affliction have taken hold of me. ¹⁷ The night racks my bones, and the pain that eats at me takes no rest. ¹⁸ With violence it seizes my garment. It binds me about like the collar of my tunic. ¹⁹ God has cast me into the mire. I have become like dust and ashes.

²⁰ I cry to you and you do not answer me! I stand, and you do not heed me. ²¹ You have turned cruel to me. With the might of your hand you appose me. ²² You lift me up on the wind, you make me ride on it, and you toss me about in the roar of the storm. ²³ Yes, I know that you will bring me to death, to the house appointed for all living.

²⁴ Does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand, Or in his disaster cry out for help? ²⁵ Have I not wept for the one whose life is hard? Was I not grieved for the needy? ²⁶ When I expected good evil came. When I waited for light darkness came. ²⁷ I am seething within and cannot relax! Days of affliction confront me. ²⁸ I go about mourning without comfort. I stand up in the assembly and cry out for help. ²⁹ I am a brother to jackals and a companion of ostriches. ³⁰ My skin grows black on me and my bones burn with fever. ³¹ Therefore my harp is turned to mourning, and my flute to the sound of those who weep.

¹ I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman. ² What is man's lot from God above, his heritage from the Almighty on high? ³ Is it not ruin for the wicked, disaster for those who do wrong? ⁴ Does he not see my ways and count my every step?

⁵ If I have walked in falsehood or my foot has hurried after deceit ⁶ let God weigh me on honest scales and he will know that I am blameless.

⁷ If my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has been led by my eyes, or if my hands have been defiled, ⁸ then may others eat what I have sown, and may my crops be uprooted.

⁹ If my heart has been enticed by a woman, or if I have lurked at my neighbor's door, ¹⁰ then may my wife grind another man's grain, and may other men sleep with her. ¹¹ For that would have been shameful (a crime), a sin to be judged. ¹² That would be a fire consuming down to destruction, and it would burn all my harvest to the root.

¹³ If I have rejected the cause of my male or female slaves, when they brought a complaint against me ¹⁴ what then shall I do when God rises up? When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him? ¹⁵ Did the one who made me in the womb make them? And did that one fashion us in the womb?

¹⁶ If I have withheld anything that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, ¹⁷ If I have eaten my morsel alone, and the orphan has not eaten from it, ¹⁸ for from my youth I reared the orphan like a father, and from my mother's womb I guided the widow. ¹⁹ If I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or a poor person without covering, ²⁰ whose loins have not blessed me, and who was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; ²¹ if I have raised my hand against the orphan, because I saw I had supporters at the gate; ²² then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder, and let my arm be broken from its socket. ²³ I was in terror of destruction from God and I could not face his majesty.

²⁴ If I have made gold my trust, or called fine gold my confidence, ²⁵ if I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, or because my hand had gotten much; ²⁶ if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor, ²⁷ and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand, ²⁸ this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have denied God above.

²⁹ If I have rejoiced at the ruin of those who hated me, or exulted when evil overtook them, ³⁰ I have not let my mouth sin by asking for their lives with a curse. ³¹ If those of my tent ever said: 'Who is not satisfied with his food? ³² The stranger has not lodged in the street for I have opened my doors to the traveler. ³³ If I have concealed my transgressions as others do (like Adam), by hiding my iniquity in my bosom, ³⁴ because I stood in great fear of the multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silent and did not go out of doors.

³⁵ Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me! Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary! ³⁶ Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it on me like a crown. ³⁷ I would give him an account of all my steps. Like a prince I would approach him.

³⁸ If my land has cried out against me, and its furrows have wept together. ³⁹ If I have eaten its yield without payment, and caused the death of its owners; ⁴⁰ let thorns grow instead of wheat, and foul weeds instead of barley. The words of Job are ended, JOB QUITE TALKING.