Job 29-31 (English Standard Version)

Job 29

Job’s Summary Defense

 ¹And Job again^(A) took up his discourse, and said:
 ²"Oh, that I were as in the months of old,
   as in the days when God watched over me,
³when his^(B) lamp shone upon my head,
   and by his light I walked through darkness,
⁴as I was in my prime,^[a]
   when the^(C) friendship of God was upon my tent,
⁵when the Almighty was yet with me,
   when my^(D) children were all around me,
⁶when my steps were^(E) washed with^(F) butter,
   and^(G) the rock poured out for me streams of^(H) oil!
⁷When I went out to^(I) the gate of the city,
   when I prepared my seat in the square,
⁸the young men saw me and withdrew,
   and the aged rose and stood;
⁹the princes refrained from talking
   and^(J) laid their hand on their mouth;
¹⁰the voice of the nobles was hushed,
   and their^(K) tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
¹¹When the ear heard, it called me blessed,
   and when the eye saw, it approved,
¹²because I^(L) delivered the poor who cried for help,
   and the fatherless who had none to help him.
^13(M) The blessing of him who was^(N) about to perish came upon me,
   and I caused^(O) the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
¹⁴I^(P) put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
   my justice was like a robe and^(Q) a turban.
¹⁵I was^(R) eyes to the blind
   and feet to the lame.
¹⁶I was a father to the needy,
   and I searched out^(S) the cause of him whom I did not know.
¹⁷I^(T) broke^(U) the fangs of the unrighteous
   and made him drop his prey from his teeth.
^18(V) Then I thought, 'I shall die in my^(W) nest,
   and I shall multiply my days as^(X) the sand,
¹⁹my^(Y) roots spread out to^(Z) the waters,
   with the dew all night on my^(AA) branches,
²⁰my glory fresh with me,
   and my^(AB) bow ever^(AC) new in my hand.'

 ²¹"Men listened to me and waited
   and kept silence for my counsel.
²²After I spoke they did not speak again,
   and my word^(AD) dropped upon them.
²³They waited for me as for the rain,
   and they^(AE) opened their mouths as for the^(AF) spring rain.
²⁴I smiled on them when they had no confidence,
   and^(AG) the light of my^(AH) face they did not cast down.
²⁵I chose their way and sat as chief,
   and I lived like^(AI) a king among his troops,
   like one who comforts mourners.

Job 30

 ¹"But now they^(AJ) laugh at me,
   men who are^(AK) younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
   to set with the dogs of my flock.
²What could I gain from the strength of their hands,
   ^(AL) men whose^(AM) vigor is gone?
³Through want and hard hunger
   they^(AN) gnaw^(AO) the dry ground by night in^(AP) waste and desolation;
⁴they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes,
   and the roots of the broom tree for their food.^[b]
5(AQ) They are driven out from human company;
   they shout after them as after a thief.
⁶In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell,
   in holes of the earth and of^(AR) the rocks.
⁷Among the bushes they^(AS) bray;
   under^(AT) the nettles they huddle together.
⁸A senseless, a nameless brood,
   they have been whipped out of the land.

 ⁹"And now I have become their^(AU) song;
   I am^(AV) a byword to them.
¹⁰They^(AW) abhor me; they keep aloof from me;
   they do not hesitate to^(AX) spit at the sight of me.
¹¹Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me,
   they have cast off restraint^[c] in my presence.
¹²On my^(AY) right hand the rabble rise;
   they push away my feet;
   they^(AZ) cast up against me their ways of destruction.
¹³They break up my path;
   they promote my^(BA) calamity;
   they need no one to help them.
¹⁴As through a wide^(BB) breach they come;
   amid the crash they roll on.
^15(BC) Terrors are turned upon me;
   my honor is pursued as by the wind,
   and my prosperity has passed away like^(BD) a cloud.

 ¹⁶"And now my soul is^(BE) poured out within me;
   days of affliction have taken hold of me.
^17(BF) The night^(BG) racks my bones,
   and the pain that^(BH) gnaws me takes no rest.
¹⁸With great force my garment is^(BI) disfigured;
   it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.
¹⁹God^[d] has cast me into the mire,
   and I have become like^(BJ) dust and ashes.
²⁰I cry to you for help and you do not answer me;
   I stand, and you only look at me.
²¹You have^(BK) turned cruel to me;
   with the might of your hand you^(BL) persecute me.
^22(BM) 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(BN) For I know that you will bring me to death
   and to the house appointed for^(BO) all living.

 ²⁴"Yet does not one in a^(BP) heap of ruins stretch out his hand,
   and in his disaster cry for help?^[e]
25Did not I^(BQ) weep for him whose day was hard?
   Was not my soul grieved for the needy?
²⁶But^(BR) when I hoped for good, evil came,
   and when I waited for light,^(BS) darkness came.
²⁷My inward parts are in turmoil and never still;
   days of affliction^(BT) come to meet me.
²⁸I^(BU) go about darkened, but not by the sun;
   I stand up in^(BV) the assembly and cry for help.
²⁹I am a brother of^(BW) jackals
   and a companion of^(BX) ostriches.
³⁰My^(BY) skin turns black and falls from me,
   and my^(BZ) bones burn with heat.
³¹My^(CA) lyre is^(CB) turned to mourning,
   and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.

Job 31

Job’s Final Appeal

 ¹"I have made a covenant with my^(CC) eyes;
   how then could I gaze at a virgin?
²What would be^(CD) my portion from God above
   and my heritage from the Almighty on high?
³Is not calamity for the unrighteous,
   and disaster for the workers of iniquity?
^4(CE) Does not he see my ways
   and^(CF) number all my steps?

 ⁵"If I have walked with falsehood
   and my foot has hastened to deceit;
⁶(Let me be^(CG) weighed in a just balance,
   and let God know my integrity!)
⁷if my step has turned aside from the way
   and^(CH) my heart has gone after my eyes,
   and if any^(CI) spot has stuck to my hands,
⁸then let me^(CJ) sow, and another eat,
   and let what grows for me^[f] be rooted out.

 ⁹"If my heart has been enticed toward a woman,
   and I have^(CK) lain in wait at my neighbor’s door,
¹⁰then let my wife^(CL) grind for another,
   and let others^(CM) bow down on her.
¹¹For that would be a heinous crime;
   that would be an iniquity^(CN) to be punished by the judges;
¹²for that would be a fire^(CO) that consumes as far as Abaddon,
   and it would burn to the root all my increase.

 ¹³"If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant,
   when they brought a complaint against me,
¹⁴what then shall I do when God rises up?
   When he^(CP) makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?
¹⁵Did^(CQ) not he who made me in the womb make him?
   And did not one fashion us in the womb?

 ¹⁶"If I have^(CR) withheld anything that the poor desired,
   or have^(CS) caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
¹⁷or have eaten my morsel alone,
   and the fatherless has not eaten of it
¹⁸(for from my youth the fatherless^[g] grew up with me as with a father,
   and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow^[h]),
¹⁹if I have seen anyone^(CT) perish for^(CU) lack of clothing,
   or the needy without covering,
²⁰if his body has not^(CV) blessed me,^[i]
   and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,
²¹if I have raised my hand against^(CW) the fatherless,
   because I saw my help in^(CX) the gate,
²²then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder,
   and let my arm be broken from its socket.
²³For I was^(CY) in terror of calamity from God,
   and I could not have faced his majesty.

 ^24(CZ) "If I have made gold my^(DA) trust
   or called^(DB) fine gold my confidence,
²⁵if I have^(DC) rejoiced because my wealth was abundant
   or because^(DD) my hand had found much,
^26(DE) if I have looked at the sun^[j] when it shone,
   or^(DF) the moon moving in splendor,
²⁷and my heart has been secretly enticed,
   and my mouth has kissed my hand,
²⁸this also would be^(DG) an iniquity to be punished by the judges,
   for I would have been false to God above.

 ²⁹"If I have^(DH) rejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me,
   or exulted when evil overtook him
³⁰(^(DI) I have not let my mouth sin
   by asking for his life with a curse),
³¹if the men of my tent have not said,
   'Who is there that has not been filled with his^(DJ) meat?'
³²(^(DK) the sojourner has not lodged in the street;
   I have opened my doors to the traveler),
³³if I^(DL) have concealed my transgressions^(DM) as others do^[k]
   by hiding my iniquity in my bosom,
³⁴because I stood in great fear of^(DN) the multitude,
   and the contempt of families terrified me,
   so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors—
³⁵Oh, that I had one to hear me!
   (Here is my signature! Let the Almighty^(DO) answer me!)
   Oh, that I had^(DP) the indictment written by my adversary!
³⁶Surely I would carry it on my^(DQ) shoulder;
   I would^(DR) bind it on me as^(DS) a crown;
³⁷I 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(DT) if I have eaten its yield without payment
   and made its owners^(DU) breathe their last,
⁴⁰let^(DV) thorns grow instead of wheat,
   and foul weeds instead of barley."

   

   The words of Job are ended.