Job 29-30

Common English Bible

² Oh, that life was like it used to be,
        like days when God watched over me;
³     when his lamp shone on my head,
        I walked by his light in the dark;
⁴     when I was in my prime;
        when God’s counsel was in my tent;
⁵     when the Almighty was with me,
        my children around me;
⁶     when my steps were washed with cream
        and a rock poured out pools of oil for me.

⁷ When I went out to the city gate,
        took my seat in the square,
⁸     the young saw me and drew back;
        the old rose and stood;
⁹     princes restrained speech,
        put their hand on their mouth;
¹⁰     the voices of officials were hushed,
        their tongue stuck to their palate.

¹¹ Indeed, the ear that heard blessed me;
        the eye that looked commended me,
¹²     because I rescued the weak who cried out,
        the orphans who lacked help.
¹³ The blessing of the perishing reached me;
    I made the widow’s heart sing;
¹⁴ I put on justice, and it clothed me,
    righteousness as my coat and turban;
¹⁵ I was eyes to the blind,
    feet to the lame.
¹⁶ I was a father to the needy;
    the case I didn’t know, I examined.
¹⁷ I shattered the fangs of the wicked,
    rescued prey from their teeth.

¹⁸ I thought, I’ll die in my nest,
        multiply days like sand,^[a]
19     my roots opening to water,
        dew lingering on my branches,
²⁰     my honor newly with me,
        my bow ever successful in my hand.

²¹ People listened to me and waited,
    were silent for my advice.
²² After my speech, they didn’t respond.
    My words fell gently on them;
²³         they waited for me as for rain,
        opened their mouth as for spring rain.
²⁴ I smiled^[b] on them; they couldn’t believe it.
    They never showed me disfavor.
²⁵ I decided their path, sat as chief.
    I lived like a king with his troops,
        like one who comforts mourners.

30 But now those younger than I mock me,
    whose fathers I refused to put beside my sheepdogs.
² Their strength, what’s it to me,
    their energy having perished?
³ Stiff from want and hunger,
    those who gnaw dry ground,
    yesterday’s desolate waste,
⁴     who pluck off the leaves on a bush,
    the root of the broom—
    a shrub is their food.
⁵ People banish them from society,
        shout at them as if to a thief;
⁶     so they live in scary ravines,
        holes in the ground and rocks.
⁷ Among shrubs, they make sounds like donkeys;
    they are huddled together under a bush,
⁸     children of fools and the nameless,
        whipped out of the land.

⁹ And now I’m their song;
    I’m their cliché!
¹⁰ They detest me, keep their distance,
    don’t withhold spit from my face.
¹¹ Because he loosened my bowstring and afflicted me,
    they throw off restraint in my presence.
¹² On the right, upstarts^[c] rise and target my feet,
    build their siege ramps against me,
¹³     destroy my road, profit from my fall,
        with no help.
¹⁴ They advance as if through a destroyed wall;^[d]
    they roll along beneath the ruin.
¹⁵ Terrors crash upon me;
    they sweep away my honor like wind;
        my safety disappears like a cloud.

¹⁶ Now my life is poured out on me;
    days of misery have seized me.
¹⁷ At night he bores my bones;
    my gnawing pain won’t rest.
¹⁸ With great force he grasps^[e] my clothing;^[f]
    it binds me like the neck of my shirt.
¹⁹ He hurls me into mud;
    I’m a cliché, like dust and ashes.
²⁰ I cry to you, and you don’t answer;
    I stand up, but you just look at me.
²¹ You are cruel to me,
    attack me with the strength of your hand.
²² You lift me to the wind and make me ride;
    you melt me in its roar.
²³ I know you will return me to death,
    the house appointed for all the living.

²⁴ Surely he won’t strike someone in ruins
        if in distress he cries out to him,
²⁵     if I didn’t weep for those who have a difficult day
        or my soul grieve for the needy;
²⁶     for I awaited good, but evil came;
        I expected light, but gloom arrived.
²⁷ My insides, churning, are never quiet;
    days of affliction confront me.
²⁸ I walk in the dark, lacking sunshine;
    I rise in the assembly and cry out.
²⁹ I have become a brother to jackals,
    a companion to young ostriches.
³⁰ My skin is charred;
    my bones are scorched by the heat.
³¹ My lyre is for mourning,
    my flute, a weeping sound.