Job 29-31 (Young's Literal Translation)

Job 29

 ¹And Job addeth to lift up his simile, and saith: --

 ²Who doth make me as [in] months past, As [in] the days of God's preserving me?

 ³In His causing His lamp to shine on my head, By His light I walk [through] darkness.

 ⁴As I have been in days of my maturity, And the counsel of God upon my tent.

 ⁵When yet the Mighty One [is] with me. Round about me -- my young ones,

 ⁶When washing my goings with butter, And the firm rock [is] with me rivulets of oil.

 ⁷When I go out to the gate by the city, In a broad place I prepare my seat.

 ⁸Seen me have youths, and they, been hidden, And the aged have risen -- they stood up.

 ⁹Princes have kept in words, And a hand they place on their mouth.

 ¹⁰The voice of leaders hath been hidden, And their tongue to the palate hath cleaved.

 ¹¹For the ear heard, and declareth me happy, And the eye hath seen, and testifieth [to] me.

 ¹²For I deliver the afflicted who is crying, And the fatherless who hath no helper.

 ¹³The blessing of the perishing cometh on me, And the heart of the widow I cause to sing.

 ¹⁴Righteousness I have put on, and it clotheth me, As a robe and a diadem my justice.

 ¹⁵Eyes I have been to the blind, And feet to the lame [am] I.

 ¹⁶A father I [am] to the needy, And the cause I have not known I search out.

 ¹⁷And I break the jaw-teeth of the perverse, And from his teeth I cast away prey.

 ¹⁸And I say, `With my nest I expire, And as the sand I multiply days.'

 ¹⁹My root is open unto the waters, And dew doth lodge on my branch.

 ²⁰My honour [is] fresh with me, And my bow in my hand is renewed.

 ²¹To me they have hearkened, Yea, they wait, and are silent for my counsel.

 ²²After my word they change not, And on them doth my speech drop,

 ²³And they wait as [for] rain for me, And their mouth they have opened wide [As] for the latter rain.

 ²⁴I laugh unto them -- they give no credence, And the light of my face cause not to fall.

 ²⁵I choose their way, and sit head, And I dwell as a king in a troop, When mourners he doth comfort.

Job 30

 ¹And now, laughed at me, Have the younger in days than I, Whose fathers I have loathed to set With the dogs of my flock.

 ²Also -- the power of their hands, why [is it] to me? On them hath old age perished.

 ³With want and with famine gloomy, Those fleeing to a dry place, Formerly a desolation and waste,

 ⁴Those cropping mallows near a shrub, And broom-roots [is] their food.

 ⁵From the midst they are cast out, (They shout against them as a thief),

 ⁶In a frightful place of valleys to dwell, Holes of earth and clefts.

 ⁷Among shrubs they do groan, Under nettles they are gathered together.

 ⁸Sons of folly -- even sons without name, They have been smitten from the land.

 ⁹And now, their song I have been, And I am to them for a byword.

 ¹⁰They have abominated me, They have kept far from me, And from before me have not spared to spit.

 ¹¹Because His cord He loosed and afflicteth me, And the bridle from before me, They have cast away.

 ¹²On the right hand doth a brood arise, My feet they have cast away, And they raise up against me, Their paths of calamity.

 ¹³They have broken down my path, By my calamity they profit, `He hath no helper.'

 ¹⁴As a wide breach they come, Under the desolation have rolled themselves.

 ¹⁵He hath turned against me terrors, It pursueth as the wind mine abundance, And as a thick cloud, Hath my safety passed away.

 ¹⁶And now, in me my soul poureth itself out, Seize me do days of affliction.

 ¹⁷At night my bone hath been pierced in me, And mine eyelids do not lie down.

 ¹⁸By the abundance of power, Is my clothing changed, As the mouth of my coat it doth gird me.

 ¹⁹Casting me into mire, And I am become like dust and ashes.

 ²⁰I cry unto Thee, And Thou dost not answer me, I have stood, and Thou dost consider me.

 ²¹Thou art turned to be fierce to me, With the strength of Thy hand, Thou oppresest me.

 ²²Thou dost lift me up, On the wind Thou dost cause me to ride, And Thou meltest -- Thou levellest me.

 ²³For I have known To death Thou dost bring me back, And [to] the house appointed for all living.

 ²⁴Surely not against the heap Doth He send forth the hand, Though in its ruin they have safety.

 ²⁵Did not I weep for him whose day is hard? Grieved hath my soul for the needy.

 ²⁶When good I expected, then cometh evil, And I wait for light, and darkness cometh.

 ²⁷My bowels have boiled, and have not ceased, Gone before me have days of affliction.

 ²⁸Mourning I have gone without the sun, I have risen, in an assembly I cry.

 ²⁹A brother I have been to dragons, And a companion to daughters of the ostrich.

 ³⁰My skin hath been black upon me, And my bone hath burned from heat,

 ³¹And my harp doth become mourning, And my organ the sound of weeping.

Job 31

 ¹A covenant I made for mine eyes, And what -- do I attend to a virgin?

 ²And what [is] the portion of God from above? And the inheritance of the Mighty from the heights?

 ³Is not calamity to the perverse? And strangeness to workers of iniquity?

 ⁴Doth not He see my ways, And all my steps number?

 ⁵If I have walked with vanity, And my foot doth hasten to deceit,

 ⁶He doth weigh me in righteous balances, And God doth know my integrity.

 ⁷If my step doth turn aside from the way, And after mine eyes hath my heart gone, And to my hands cleaved hath blemish,

 ⁸Let me sow -- and another eat, And my products let be rooted out.

 ⁹If my heart hath been enticed by woman, And by the opening of my neighbour I laid wait,

 ¹⁰Grind to another let my wife, And over her let others bend.

 ¹¹For it [is] a wicked thing, and a judicial iniquity;

 ¹²For a fire it [is], to destruction it consumeth, And among all mine increase doth take root,

 ¹³If I despise the cause of my man-servant, And of my handmaid, In their contending with me,

 ¹⁴Then what do I do when God ariseth? And when He doth inspect, What do I answer Him?

 ¹⁵Did not He that made me in the womb make him? Yea, prepare us in the womb doth One.

 ¹⁶If I withhold from pleasure the poor, And the eyes of the widow do consume,

 ¹⁷And I do eat my morsel by myself, And the orphan hath not eat of it,

 ¹⁸(But from my youth He grew up with me as [with] a father, And from the belly of my mother I am led.)

 ¹⁹If I see [any] perishing without clothing, And there is no covering to the needy,

 ²⁰If his loins have not blessed me, And from the fleece of my sheep He doth not warm himself,

 ²¹If I have waved at the fatherless my hand, When I see in [him] the gate of my court,

 ²²My shoulder from its blade let fall, And mine arm from the bone be broken.

 ²³For a dread unto me [is] calamity [from] God, And because of His excellency I am not able.

 ²⁴If I have made gold my confidence, And to the pure gold have said, `My trust,'

 ²⁵If I rejoice because great [is] my wealth, And because abundance hath my hand found,

 ²⁶If I see the light when it shineth, And the precious moon walking,

 ²⁷And my heart is enticed in secret, And my hand doth kiss my mouth,

 ²⁸It also [is] a judicial iniquity, For I had lied to God above.

 ²⁹If I rejoice at the ruin of my hater, And stirred up myself when evil found him,

 ³⁰Yea, I have not suffered my mouth to sin, To ask with an oath his life.

 ³¹If not -- say ye, O men of my tent, `O that we had of his flesh, we are not satisfied.'

 ³²In the street doth not lodge a stranger, My doors to the traveller I open.

 ³³If I have covered as Adam my transgressions, To hide in my bosom mine iniquity,

 ³⁴Because I fear a great multitude, And the contempt of families doth affright me, Then I am silent, I go not out of the opening.

 ³⁵Who giveth to me a hearing? lo, my mark. The Mighty One doth answer me, And a bill hath mine adversary written.

 ³⁶If not -- on my shoulder I take it up, I bind it a crown on myself.

 ³⁷The number of my steps I tell Him, As a leader I approach Him.

 ³⁸If against me my land doth cry out, And together its furrows weep,

 ³⁹If its strength I consumed without money, And the life of its possessors, I have caused to breathe out,

 ⁴⁰Instead of wheat let a thorn go forth, And instead of barley a useless weed! The words of Job are finished.