Job Keeps On Talking

30 “But now those who are younger than I make fun of me. I thought so little of their fathers that I did not want them with my sheep dogs. ² Yes, what good could I get from the strength of their hands? Their strength was gone. ³ Their bodies are thin and in need of food. At night they bite the dry ground in the waste land. ⁴ They pick plants that taste of salt among the bushes. And they eat the root of the broom bush. ⁵ They are driven away from people. Men call out against them as if they were robbers. ⁶ So they live in valleys made by floods, in caves of the earth and of the rocks. ⁷ Among the bushes they cry out. They gather together under the thistles. ⁸ They are fools and they have no name. They have been driven out of the land.

⁹ “Now they make fun of me in song. They laugh at me. ¹⁰ They hate me and keep away from me, but they spit in my face. ¹¹ Because God has made the string of my bow loose and has troubled me, they have thrown off their respect for me. ¹² Their bad group comes to my right. They push me away and trip my feet, and make ways to destroy me. ¹³ They break up my path. They make trouble for me, and no one stops them. ¹⁴ They come as if through a wide hole in the wall, and roll on with much noise. ¹⁵ Fears come upon me. They go after my honor like the wind. And my well-being has passed away like a cloud.

¹⁶ “Now my soul is poured out within me. Days of trouble have taken hold of me. ¹⁷ Night cuts into my bones with pain. The pain keeps on and takes no rest. ¹⁸ My clothing is torn by a strong power. It pulls against me like the top of my coat. ¹⁹ God has thrown me into the mud, and I have become like dust and ashes. ²⁰ I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer me. I stand up, and You turn away from me. ²¹ You work against me. With the power of Your hand you make it hard for me. ²² You lift me up to the wind and make it carry me. You throw me around in the storm. ²³ For I know that You will bring me to death, to the place for all the living.

²⁴ “Yet does not one in a destroyed place put out his hand, and in his trouble cry out for help? ²⁵ Have I not cried for the one whose life is hard? Was not my soul filled with sorrow for the poor? ²⁶ When I expected good, then trouble came. When I waited for light, darkness came. ²⁷ My heart is troubled and does not rest. Days of trouble are before me. ²⁸ I go about full of sorrow without comfort. I stand up where the people are gathered and cry out for help. ²⁹ I have become a brother to wild dogs, and a friend of ostriches. ³⁰ My skin becomes black and falls from me. My bones burn because I am sick. ³¹ So my harp is turned to sorrow, and my horn to the sound of crying.

Job Keeps On Talking

31 “I have made an agreement with my eyes not to look with desire at a young woman. ² What would be my share from God above? What would my gift be from the All-powerful on high? ³ Does not trouble come to those who are not right and good? Do not hard times come to those who do wrong? ⁴ Does He not see my ways and number all my steps?

⁵ “If I have walked in ways that are false, and my foot has been quick to follow false ways, ⁶ let Him weigh me with a true weight. Let God know that I am honest. ⁷ If my step has turned from the way, and my heart has followed my eyes, or if my hands have held on to sin, ⁸ then let me plant and another eat. Let what grows be pulled out by the roots.

⁹ “If my heart has been tempted by a woman, or I have waited at my neighbor’s door, ¹⁰ may my wife grind grain for another. And let others bow down upon her. ¹¹ For that would be a very sinful thing to do. It would be a sin that would be punished by the judges. ¹² For that would be a fire that burns at the Place That Destroys. It would dig out all I have planted.

¹³ “If I did not listen to my men servants and women servants when they complained against me, ¹⁴ what will I do when God speaks to me? When He asks me why, what will I answer Him? ¹⁵ Did not He Who made me inside my mother make him also? Did not the same One give us life from our mothers?

¹⁶ “If I have kept what the poor should have or have caused the eyes of the woman whose husband has died to be tired, ¹⁷ if I have eaten my food alone without sharing it with the child who has no parents, ¹⁸ (but from the time I was young, he grew up with me as a father, and I have helped the woman without a husband since I was born,) ¹⁹ if I have seen anyone die because he had no clothing, or left any poor person without clothes, ²⁰ if he has not thanked me for the clothing on his body, and been made warm with the wool of my sheep, ²¹ if I have not done these things, or if I have lifted up my hand against the child who has no parents, because I saw I had help in the gate, ²² let my shoulder fall out of place, and let my arm be broken off at the joint. ²³ For trouble sent by God fills me with fear. Because of His great power I could not do these things.

²⁴ “If I have put my faith in gold and said fine gold is my trust, ²⁵ if I have had pride because of my many riches and have received much by my hand, ²⁶ if I have looked at the sun shining or the bright moon going on its way, ²⁷ and have in secret worshiped them in my heart, and have honored them by throwing them a kiss with my hand, ²⁸ these also would be sins to be judged. It would say I did not know the God above.

²⁹ “Have I been glad when a person who hated me was destroyed? Have I been filled with joy when trouble came to him? ³⁰ No, I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking his life to be cursed. ³¹ Have the men of my tent not said, ‘Who can find one who has not been filled with his meat’? ³² The stranger has not stayed in the street, for I have opened my doors to the traveler. ³³ Have I hidden my sins like Adam? Have I hidden my wrong-doing in my heart, ³⁴ because I was afraid of all the people, and of families who hated me? Did I keep quiet and not go out of the door? ³⁵ If only I had one to hear me! See, here my name is written. Let the All-powerful answer me! May what is against me be written down! ³⁶ For sure I would carry it on my shoulder. I would tie it around my head like a crown. ³⁷ I would tell Him the number of my every step. I would come near Him like a prince.

³⁸ “If my land cries out against me and the ditches made by the plow cry together, ³⁹ if I have eaten its fruit without paying for it, and caused its owners to die, ⁴⁰ let thorns grow instead of grain. And let weeds with a bad smell grow instead of barley.”

The words of Job are finished.