Job 29-31

New International Version

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.

31 “I made a covenant with my eyes^(DF)
    not to look lustfully at a young woman.^(DG)
2 For what is our lot^(DH) from God above,
    our heritage from the Almighty on high?^(DI)
3 Is it not ruin^(DJ) for the wicked,
    disaster^(DK) for those who do wrong?^(DL)
4 Does he not see my ways^(DM)
    and count my every step?^(DN)

⁵ “If I have walked with falsehood
    or my foot has hurried after deceit^(DO)—
⁶ let God weigh me^(DP) in honest scales^(DQ)
    and he will know that I am blameless^(DR)—
⁷ if my steps have turned from the path,^(DS)
    if my heart has been led by my eyes,
    or if my hands^(DT) have been defiled,^(DU)
8 then may others eat what I have sown,^(DV)
    and may my crops be uprooted.^(DW)

⁹ “If my heart has been enticed^(DX) by a woman,^(DY)
    or if I have lurked at my neighbor’s door,
¹⁰ then may my wife grind^(DZ) another man’s grain,
    and may other men sleep with her.^(EA)
11 For that would have been wicked,^(EB)
    a sin to be judged.^(EC)
12 It is a fire^(ED) that burns to Destruction^[f];^(EE)
    it would have uprooted my harvest.^(EF)

¹³ “If I have denied justice to any of my servants,^(EG)
    whether male or female,
    when they had a grievance against me,^(EH)
14 what will I do when God confronts me?^(EI)
    What will I answer when called to account?^(EJ)
15 Did not he who made me in the womb make them?^(EK)
    Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?^(EL)

¹⁶ “If I have denied the desires of the poor^(EM)
    or let the eyes of the widow^(EN) grow weary,^(EO)
17 if I have kept my bread to myself,
    not sharing it with the fatherless^(EP)—
¹⁸ but from my youth I reared them as a father would,
    and from my birth I guided the widow^(EQ)—
¹⁹ if I have seen anyone perishing for lack of clothing,^(ER)
    or the needy^(ES) without garments,
²⁰ and their hearts did not bless me^(ET)
    for warming them with the fleece^(EU) from my sheep,
²¹ if I have raised my hand against the fatherless,^(EV)
    knowing that I had influence in court,^(EW)
22 then let my arm fall from the shoulder,
    let it be broken off at the joint.^(EX)
23 For I dreaded destruction from God,^(EY)
    and for fear of his splendor^(EZ) I could not do such things.^(FA)

²⁴ “If I have put my trust in gold^(FB)
    or said to pure gold, ‘You are my security,’^(FC)
25 if I have rejoiced over my great wealth,^(FD)
    the fortune my hands had gained,^(FE)
26 if I have regarded the sun^(FF) in its radiance
    or the moon^(FG) moving in splendor,
²⁷ so that my heart was secretly enticed^(FH)
    and my hand offered them a kiss of homage,^(FI)
28 then these also would be sins to be judged,^(FJ)
    for I would have been unfaithful to God on high.^(FK)

²⁹ “If I have rejoiced at my enemy’s misfortune^(FL)
    or gloated over the trouble that came to him^(FM)—
³⁰ I have not allowed my mouth to sin
    by invoking a curse against their life^(FN)—
³¹ if those of my household have never said,
    ‘Who has not been filled with Job’s meat?’^(FO)—
³² but no stranger had to spend the night in the street,
    for my door was always open to the traveler^(FP)—
³³ if I have concealed^(FQ) my sin as people do,^[g]
    by hiding^(FR) my guilt in my heart
³⁴ because I so feared the crowd^(FS)
    and so dreaded the contempt of the clans
    that I kept silent^(FT) and would not go outside—

³⁵ (“Oh, that I had someone to hear me!^(FU)
    I sign now my defense—let the Almighty answer me;
    let my accuser^(FV) put his indictment in writing.
³⁶ Surely I would wear it on my shoulder,^(FW)
    I would put it on like a crown.^(FX)
37 I would give him an account of my every step;^(FY)
    I would present it to him as to a ruler.^(FZ))—

³⁸ “if my land cries out against me^(GA)
    and all its furrows are wet^(GB) with tears,
³⁹ if I have devoured its yield without payment^(GC)
    or broken the spirit of its tenants,^(GD)
40 then let briers^(GE) come up instead of wheat
    and stinkweed^(GF) instead of barley.”