Job 29-31
Good News Translation
Job's Final Statement of His Case
29 Job began speaking again.
Job
2 If only my life could once again
be as it was when God watched over me.
3 God was always with me then
and gave me light as I walked through the darkness.
4 Those were the days when I was prosperous,
and the friendship of God protected my home.
5 Almighty God was with me then,
and I was surrounded by all my children.
6 My cows and goats gave plenty of milk,
and my olive trees grew in the rockiest soil.
7 Whenever the city elders met
and I took my place among them,
8 young men stepped aside as soon as they saw me,
and old men stood up to show me respect.
9 The leaders of the people would stop talking;
10 even the most important men kept silent.
11 Everyone who saw me or heard of me
had good things to say about what I had done.
12 When the poor cried out, I helped them;
I gave help to orphans who had nowhere to turn.
13 People who were in deepest misery praised me,
and I helped widows find security.
14 I have always acted justly and fairly.
15 I was eyes for the blind,
and feet for the lame.
16 I was like a father to the poor
and took the side of strangers in trouble.
17 I destroyed the power of cruel men
and rescued their victims.
18 I always expected to live a long life
and to die at home in comfort.
19 I was like a tree whose roots always have water
and whose branches are wet with dew.
20 Everyone was always praising me,
and my strength never failed me.
21 When I gave advice, people were silent
and listened carefully to what I said;
22 they had nothing to add when I had finished.
My words sank in like drops of rain;
23 everyone welcomed them
just as farmers welcome rain in spring.
24 I smiled on them when they had lost confidence;
my cheerful face encouraged them.
25 I took charge and made the decisions;
I led them as a king leads his troops,
and gave them comfort in their despair.
30 But men younger than I am make fun of me now!
Their fathers have always been so worthless
that I wouldn't let them help my dogs guard sheep.
2 They were a bunch of worn-out men,
too weak to do any work for me.
3 They were so poor and hungry
that they would gnaw dry roots—
at night, in wild, desolate places.
4 They pulled up the plants of the desert and ate them,
even the tasteless roots of the broom tree!
5 Everyone drove them away with shouts,
as if they were shouting at thieves.
6 They had to live in caves,
in holes dug in the sides of cliffs.
7 Out in the wilds they howled like animals
and huddled together under the bushes.
8 A worthless bunch of nameless nobodies!
They were driven out of the land.
9 Now they come and laugh at me;
I am nothing but a joke to them.
10 They treat me with disgust;
they think they are too good for me,
and even come and spit in my face.
11 Because God has made me weak and helpless,
they turn against me with all their fury.
12 This mob attacks me head-on;
they send me running; they prepare their final assault.
13 They cut off my escape and try to destroy me;
and there is no one to stop[a] them.
14 They pour through the holes in my defenses
and come crashing down on top of me;
15 I am overcome with terror;
my dignity is gone like a puff of wind,
and my prosperity like a cloud.
16 Now I am about to die;
there is no relief for my suffering.
17 At night my bones all ache;
the pain that gnaws me never stops.
18 God seizes me by my collar
and twists my clothes out of shape.
19 He throws me down in the mud;
I am no better than dirt.
20 I call to you, O God, but you never answer;
and when I pray, you pay no attention.
21 You are treating me cruelly;
you persecute me with all your power.
22 You let the wind blow me away;
you toss me about in a raging storm.
23 I know you are taking me off to my death,
to the fate in store for everyone.
24 Why do you attack a ruined man,
one who can do nothing but beg for pity?[b]
25 Didn't I weep with people in trouble
and feel sorry for those in need?
26 I hoped for happiness and light,
but trouble and darkness came instead.
27 I am torn apart by worry and pain;
I have had day after day of suffering.
28 I go about in gloom, without any sunshine;
I stand up in public and plead for help.
29 My voice is as sad and lonely
as the cries of a jackal or an ostrich.
30 My skin has turned dark; I am burning with fever.
31 Where once I heard joyful music,
now I hear only mourning and weeping.
31 I have made a solemn promise
never to look with lust at a woman.
2 What does Almighty God do to us?
How does he repay human deeds?
3 He sends disaster and ruin
to those who do wrong.
4 God knows everything I do;
he sees every step I take.
5 I swear I have never acted wickedly
and never tried to deceive others.
6 Let God weigh me on honest scales,
and he will see how innocent I am.
7 If I have turned from the right path
or let myself be attracted to evil,
if my hands are stained with sin,
8 then let my crops be destroyed,
or let others eat the food I grow.
9 If I have been attracted to my neighbor's wife,
and waited, hidden, outside her door,
10 then let my wife cook another man's food
and sleep in another man's bed.
11 Such wickedness should be punished by death.
12 It would be like a destructive, hellish fire,
consuming everything I have.
13 When any of my servants complained against me,
I would listen and treat them fairly.
14 If I did not, how could I then face God?
What could I say when God came to judge me?
15 The same God who created me
created my servants also.
16 (A)I have never refused to help the poor;
never have I let widows live in despair
17 or let orphans go hungry while I ate.
18 All my life I have taken care of them.[c]
19 When I found someone in need,
too poor to buy clothes,
20 I would give him clothing made of wool
that had come from my own flock of sheep.
Then he would praise me with all his heart.
21 If I have ever cheated an orphan,
knowing I could win in court,
22 then may my arms be broken;
may they be torn from my shoulders.
23 Because I fear God's punishment,
I could never do such a thing.
24 (B)I have never trusted in riches
25 or taken pride in my wealth.
26 I have never worshiped the sun in its brightness
or the moon in all its beauty.
27 I have not been led astray to honor them
by kissing my hand in reverence to them.
28 Such a sin should be punished by death;
it denies Almighty God.
29 I have never been glad when my enemies suffered,
or pleased when they met with disaster;
30 I never sinned by praying for their death.
31 All those who work for me know
that I have always welcomed strangers.
32 I invited travelers into my home
and never let them sleep in the streets.
33 Others try to hide their sins,
but I have never concealed mine.
34 I have never feared what people would say;
I have never kept quiet or stayed indoors
because I feared their scorn.
35 Will no one listen to what I am saying?
I swear that every word is true.
Let Almighty God answer me.
If the charges my opponent brings against me
were written down so that I could see them,
36 I would wear them proudly on my shoulder
and place them on my head like a crown.
37 I would tell God everything I have done,
and hold my head high in his presence.
38 If I have stolen the land I farm
and taken it from its rightful owners—
39 if I have eaten the food that grew there
but let the farmers that grew it starve—
40 then instead of wheat and barley,
may weeds and thistles grow.
The words of Job are ended.
Job 29-31
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Job Finishes His Defense
29 Job again took up his discourse and said:(A)
2 “O that I were as in the months of old,
as in the days when God watched over me,(B)
3 when his lamp shone over my head,
and by his light I walked through darkness,(C)
4 when I was in my prime,
when the friendship of God was upon my tent,(D)
5 when the Almighty[a] was still with me,
when my children were around me,
6 when my steps were washed with milk
and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!(E)
7 When I went out to the gate of the city,
when I took my seat in the square,
8 the young men saw me and withdrew,
and the aged rose up and stood;
9 the nobles refrained from talking
and laid their hands on their mouths;(F)
10 the voices of princes were hushed,
and their tongues stuck to the roofs of their mouths.(G)
11 When the ear heard, it commended me,
and when the eye saw, it approved,
12 because I delivered the poor who cried
and the orphan who had no helper.(H)
13 The blessing of the wretched came upon me,
and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.(I)
14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
my justice was like a robe and a turban.(J)
15 I was eyes to the blind
and feet to the lame.
16 I was a father to the needy,
and I championed the cause of the stranger.(K)
17 I broke the fangs of the unrighteous
and made them drop their prey from their teeth.(L)
18 Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest,
and I shall multiply my days like the phoenix;[b](M)
19 my roots spread out to the waters,
with the dew all night on my branches;(N)
20 my glory was fresh with me
and my bow ever new in my hand.’(O)
21 “They listened to me and waited
and kept silence for my counsel.(P)
22 After I spoke they did not speak again,
and my word dropped upon them like dew.[c](Q)
23 They waited for me as for the rain;
they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.
24 I smiled on them when they had no confidence,
and the light of my countenance they did not extinguish.[d]
25 I chose what they should do and sat as chief,
and I lived like a king among his troops,
like one who comforts mourners.(R)
30 “But now they make sport of me,
those who are younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
to set with the dogs of my flock.(S)
2 What could I gain from the strength of their hands?
All their vigor is gone.
3 Through want and hard hunger
they gnaw the dry and desolate ground;
4 they pick mallow and the leaves of bushes
and to warm themselves the roots of broom.
5 They are driven out from society;
people shout after them as after a thief.
6 In the gullies of wadis they must live,
in holes in the ground and in the rocks.
7 Among the bushes they bray;
under the nettles they huddle together.
8 A senseless, disreputable brood,
they have been whipped out of the land.
9 “And now they mock me in song;
I am a byword to them.(T)
10 They abhor me; they keep aloof from me;
they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.(U)
11 Because God has loosed my bowstring and humbled me,
they have cast off restraint in my presence.(V)
12 On my right hand the rabble rise up;
they send me sprawling
and build roads for my ruin.(W)
13 They break up my path;
they promote my calamity;
no one restrains[e] them.
14 As through a wide breach they come;
amid the crash they roll on.
15 Terrors are turned upon me;
my honor is pursued as by the wind,
and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.(X)
16 “And now my soul is poured out within me;
days of affliction have taken hold of me.(Y)
17 The night racks my bones,
and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.
18 With violence he seizes my garment;[f]
he grasps me by[g] the collar of my tunic.
19 He has cast me into the mire,
and I have become like dust and ashes.(Z)
20 I cry to you, and you do not answer me;
I stand, and you merely look at me.(AA)
21 You have turned cruel to me;
with the might of your hand you persecute me.(AB)
22 You lift me up on the wind, you make me ride on it,
and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.(AC)
23 I know that you will bring me to death,
to the house appointed for all living.(AD)
24 “Surely one does not turn against the needy,[h]
when in disaster they cry for help.[i](AE)
25 Did I not weep for those whose day was hard?
Was not my soul grieved for the poor?(AF)
26 But when I looked for good, evil came,
and when I waited for light, darkness came.(AG)
27 My inward parts are in turmoil and are never still;
days of affliction come to meet me.
28 I go about in sunless gloom;
I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.(AH)
29 I am a brother of jackals
and a companion of ostriches.(AI)
30 My skin turns black and falls from me,
and my bones burn with heat.(AJ)
31 My lyre is turned to mourning
and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.(AK)
31 “I have made a covenant with my eyes;
how, then, could I look upon a virgin?(AL)
2 What would be my portion from God above
and my heritage from the Almighty[j] on high?
3 Does not calamity befall the unrighteous
and disaster the workers of iniquity?
4 Does he not see my ways
and number all my steps?(AM)
5 “If I have walked with falsehood,
and my foot has hurried to deceit—(AN)
6 let me be weighed in a just balance,
and let God know my integrity!—(AO)
7 if my step has turned aside from the way,
and my heart has followed my eyes,
and if any spot has clung to my hands,(AP)
8 then let me sow and another eat,
and let what grows for me be rooted out.(AQ)
9 “If my heart has been enticed by a woman
and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door,(AR)
10 then let my wife grind for another,
and let other men kneel over her.(AS)
11 For that would be a heinous crime;
that would be a criminal offense;(AT)
12 for that would be a fire consuming down to Abaddon,
and it would burn to the root all my harvest.(AU)
13 “If I have rejected the cause of my male or female slaves,
when they brought a complaint against me,(AV)
14 what then shall I do when God rises up?
When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?
15 Did not he who made me in the womb make them?
And did not one fashion us in the womb?(AW)
16 “If I have withheld anything that the poor desired
or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail(AX)
17 or have eaten my morsel alone
and the orphan has not eaten from it—(AY)
18 for from my youth I reared the orphan[k] like a father,
and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow[l]—
19 if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing
or a poor person without covering,
20 whose loins have not blessed me,
and who was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;(AZ)
21 if I have raised my hand against the orphan
because I saw I had supporters at the gate;(BA)
22 then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder,
and let my arm be broken from its socket.(BB)
23 For I was in terror of calamity from God,
and I could not have faced his majesty.(BC)
24 “If I have made gold my trust
or called fine gold my confidence,(BD)
25 if I have rejoiced because my wealth was great
or because my hand had gotten much,(BE)
26 if I have looked at the sun[m] when it shone
or the moon moving in splendor,(BF)
27 and my heart has been secretly enticed,
and my mouth has kissed my hand,
28 this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges,
for I should have been false to God above.(BG)
29 “If I have rejoiced at the ruin of those who hated me
or exulted when evil overtook them—(BH)
30 I have not let my mouth sin
by asking for their lives with a curse—(BI)
31 if those of my tent ever said,
‘O that we might be sated with his flesh!’[n]—(BJ)
32 the stranger has not lodged in the street;
I have opened my doors to the traveler—(BK)
33 if I have concealed my transgressions as others do,[o]
by hiding my iniquity in my bosom,(BL)
34 because I stood in great fear of the multitude,
and the contempt of families terrified me,
so that I kept silence and did not go out of doors—(BM)
35 O that I had one to hear me!
(Here is my signature! Let the Almighty[p] answer me!)
O that I had the indictment written by my adversary!(BN)
36 Surely I would carry it on my shoulder;
I would bind it on me like a crown;
37 I would give him an account of all my steps;
like a prince I would approach him.(BO)
38 “If my land has cried out against me
and its furrows have wept together,(BP)
39 if I have eaten its yield without payment
and caused the death of its owners,(BQ)
40 let thorns grow instead of wheat
and foul weeds instead of barley.”
The words of Job are ended.(BR)
Footnotes
- 29.5 Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
- 29.18 Or like sand
- 29.22 Heb lacks like dew
- 29.24 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 30.13 Cn: Heb helps
- 30.18 Gk: Heb my garment is disfigured
- 30.18 Heb like
- 30.24 Heb ruin
- 30.24 Cn: Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 31.2 Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
- 31.18 Heb him
- 31.18 Heb her
- 31.26 Heb the light
- 31.31 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 31.33 Or as Adam did
- 31.35 Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
Job 29-31
Complete Jewish Bible
29 Iyov went on speaking:
2 “I wish I were as in the old days,
back in the times when God watched over me;
3 when his lamp shone over my head,
and I walked through the dark by its light;
4 as I was when I was young,
and God’s counsel graced my tent.
5 Then Shaddai was still with me,
my children were around me;
6 my steps were awash in butter,
and the rocks poured out for me streams of olive oil.
7 I would go out to the city gate
and set up my seat in the open space;
8 when young men saw me they would hide themselves,
while the aged arose and stood;
9 leaders refrained from speaking —
they would lay their hands on their mouths;
10 the voices of nobles were silenced;
their tongues stuck to their palates.
11 Any ear that heard me blessed me,
any eye that saw me gave witness to me,
12 for I delivered the poor when they cried for assistance,
the orphan too, who had no one to help him.
13 Those who had been about to die would bless me,
and I made widows sing in their hearts for joy.
14 I clothed myself with righteousness, and it clothed itself with me;
my justice was like a robe and a crown.
15 I was eyes for the blind,
and I was feet for the lame.
16 I was a father to the needy,
and I investigated the problems of those I didn’t know.
17 I broke the jaws of the unrighteous
and snatched the prey from his teeth.
18 “I said, ‘I will die with my nest,
and I will live as long as a phoenix;
19 my root will spread till it reaches water,
and dew will stay all night on my branch;
20 my glory will always be fresh,
my bow always new in my hand.’
21 “People would listen to me;
they waited and were silent when I gave advice.
22 After I spoke, they didn’t talk back;
my words were like drops [of dew] on them.
23 They waited for me as if for rain,
as if for spring rain, with their mouths open wide.
24 When I joked with them, they couldn’t believe it;
and they never darkened the light on my face.
25 I chose their way [for them], sitting as chief;
I lived like a king in the army,
like one who comforts mourners.
30 “But now those younger than I
hold me in derision,
men whose fathers I wouldn’t even
have put with the dogs that guarded my sheep.
2 What use to me was the strength in their hands?
All their vigor had left them.
3 Worn out by want and hunger,
they gnaw the dry ground in the gloom
of waste and desolation.
4 They pluck saltwort and bitter leaves;
these, with broom tree roots, are their food.
5 They are driven away from society,
with men shouting after them as after a thief,
6 to live in gullies and vadis,
in holes in the ground and caves in the rocks.
7 Among the bushes they howl like beasts
and huddle among the nettles,
8 irresponsible nobodies
driven from the land.
9 “Now I have become their song;
yes, I am a byword with them.
10 They loathe me, they stand aloof from me;
they don’t hesitate to spit in my face!
11 For God has loosened my bowstring and humbled me;
they throw off restraint in my presence.
12 At my right the street urchins attack,
pushing me from place to place,
besieging me with their ways of destruction,
13 breaking up my path,
furthering my calamity —
even those who have no one to help them.
14 They move in as through a wide gap;
amid the ruin they roll on in waves.
15 Terrors tumble over me,
chasing my honor away like the wind;
my [hope of] salvation passes like a cloud.
16 “So now my life is ebbing away,
days of grief have seized me.
17 At night pain pierces me to the bone,
so that I never rest.
18 My clothes are disfigured by the force [of my disease];
they choke me like the collar of my coat.
19 [God] has thrown me into the mud;
I have become like dust and ashes.
20 “I call out to you [God], but you don’t answer me;
I stand up to plead, but you just look at me.
21 You have turned cruelly against me;
with your powerful hand you keep persecuting me.
22 You snatch me up on the wind and make me ride it;
you toss me about in the tempest.
23 For I know that you will bring me to death,
the house assigned to everyone living.
24 “Surely [God] wouldn’t strike at a ruin,
if in one’s calamity one cried out to him for help.
25 Didn’t I weep for those who were in trouble?
Didn’t I grieve for the needy?
26 Yet when I hoped for good, what came was bad;
when I expected light, what came was darkness.
27 My insides are in turmoil; they can’t find rest;
days of misery confront me.
28 I go about in sunless gloom,
I rise in the assembly and cry for help.
29 I have become a brother to jackals
and a companion of ostriches.
30 My skin is black and falling off me,
and my bones are burning with heat.
31 So my lyre is tuned for mourning,
my pipe to the voice of those who weep.
31 “I made a covenant with my eyes
not to let them lust after any girl.
2 “What share does God give from above?
What is the heritage from Shaddai on high?
3 Isn’t it calamity to the unrighteous?
disaster to those who do evil?
4 Doesn’t he see my ways
and count all my steps?
5 “If I have gone along with falsehood,
if my feet have hurried to deceit;
6 then let me be weighed on an honest scale,
so that God will know my integrity.
7 “If my steps have wandered from the way,
if my heart has followed my eyes,
if the least dirt has stuck to my hands;
8 then let me sow and someone else eat,
let what grows from my fields be uprooted.
9 “If my heart has been enticed toward a woman,
and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door;
10 then let my wife grind for another man,
and let others kneel on her.
11 For that would be a heinous act,
a criminal offense,
12 a fire that would burn to the depths of Abaddon,
uprooting all I produce.
13 “If I ever rejected my slave or slave-girl’s cause,
when they brought legal action against me;
14 then what would I do if God stood up?
Were he to intervene, what answer could I give?
15 Didn’t he who made me in the womb make them too?
Didn’t the same one shape us both before our birth?
16 “If I held back anything needed by the poor
or made a widow’s eye grow dim [with tears],
17 or ate my portion of food by myself,
without letting the orphan eat any of it —
18 No! From my youth he grew up
with me as if with a father,
and I have been her guide
from my mother’s womb! —
19 or if I saw a traveler needing clothing,
someone in need who had no covering,
20 who didn’t bless me from his heart
for being warmed with the fleece from my sheep,
21 or if I lifted my hand against an orphan,
knowing that no one would dare charge me in court;
22 then let my arm fall from its socket,
and let my forearm be broken at the elbow!
23 For calamity from God has always terrified me;
before his majesty I could never do a thing [like that].
24 “If I made gold my hope,
if I said to fine gold, ‘You are my security,’
25 if I took joy in my great wealth,
in my having acquired so much;
26 or if, on seeing the shining sun
or the full moon as it moved through the sky,
27 my heart was secretly seduced,
so that I would wave them a kiss with my hand;
28 then this too would be a criminal offense,
for I would have been lying to God on high.
29 “Did I rejoice at the destruction of him who hated me?
Was I filled with glee when disaster overtook him?
30 No, I did not allow my mouth to sin
by asking for his life with a curse.
31 “Was there anyone in my tent who didn’t say,
‘No one can find a single person
whom he has not filled with his meat’?
32 No stranger had to sleep in the street;
I kept my house open to the traveler.
33 “If I concealed my sins, as most people do,
by hiding my wrongdoing in my heart,
34 from fear of general gossip
or dread of some family’s contempt.
keeping silent and not going outdoors —
35 I wish I had someone who would listen to me!
Here is my signature; let Shaddai answer me!
I wish I had the indictment my adversary has written!
36 I would carry it on my shoulder;
I would bind it on me like a crown.
37 I would declare to him every one of my steps;
I would approach him like a prince.
38 “If my land cried out against me,
if its furrows wept together,
39 if I ate its produce without paying
or made its owners despair;
40 then let thistles grow instead of wheat
and noxious weeds instead of barley!
“The words of Iyov are finished.”
Job 29-31
The Message
When God Was Still by My Side
29 1-6 Job now resumed his response:
“Oh, how I long for the good old days,
when God took such very good care of me.
He always held a lamp before me
and I walked through the dark by its light.
Oh, how I miss those golden years
when God’s friendship graced my home,
When the Mighty One was still by my side
and my children were all around me,
When everything was going my way,
and nothing seemed too difficult.
7-20 “When I walked downtown
and sat with my friends in the public square,
Young and old greeted me with respect;
I was honored by everyone in town.
When I spoke, everyone listened;
they hung on my every word.
People who knew me spoke well of me;
my reputation went ahead of me.
I was known for helping people in trouble
and standing up for those who were down on their luck.
The dying blessed me,
and the bereaved were cheered by my visits.
All my dealings with people were good.
I was known for being fair to everyone I met.
I was eyes to the blind
and feet to the lame,
Father to the needy,
and champion of abused aliens.
I grabbed street thieves by the scruff of the neck
and made them give back what they’d stolen.
I thought, ‘I’ll die peacefully in my own bed,
grateful for a long and full life,
A life deep-rooted and well-watered,
a life limber and dew-fresh,
My soul soaked through with glory
and my body robust until the day I die.’
21-25 “Men and women listened when I spoke,
hung expectantly on my every word.
After I spoke, they’d be quiet,
taking it all in.
They welcomed my counsel like spring rain,
drinking it all in.
When I smiled at them, they could hardly believe it;
their faces lit up, their troubles took wing!
I was their leader, establishing the mood
and setting the pace by which they lived.
Where I led, they followed.”
The Pain Never Lets Up
30 1-8 “But no longer. Now I’m the butt of their jokes—
young thugs! whippersnappers!
Why, I considered their fathers
mere inexperienced pups.
But they are worse than dogs—good for nothing,
stray, mangy animals,
Half-starved, scavenging the back alleys,
howling at the moon;
Homeless ragamuffins
chewing on old bones and licking old tin cans;
Outcasts from the community,
cursed as dangerous delinquents.
Nobody would put up with them;
they were driven from the neighborhood.
You could hear them out there at the edge of town,
yelping and barking, huddled in junkyards,
A gang of beggars and no-names,
thrown out on their ears.
9-15 “But now I’m the one they’re after,
mistreating me, taunting and mocking.
They abhor me, they abuse me.
How dare those scoundrels—they spit in my face!
Now that God has undone me and left me in a heap,
they hold nothing back. Anything goes.
They come at me from my blind side,
trip me up, then jump on me while I’m down.
They throw every kind of obstacle in my path,
determined to ruin me—
and no one lifts a finger to help me!
They violate my broken body,
trample through the rubble of my ruined life.
Terrors assault me—
my dignity in shreds,
salvation up in smoke.
16-19 “And now my life drains out,
as suffering seizes and grips me hard.
Night gnaws at my bones;
the pain never lets up.
I am tied hand and foot, my neck in a noose.
I twist and turn.
Thrown facedown in the muck,
I’m a muddy mess, inside and out.
What Did I Do to Deserve This?
20-23 “I shout for help, God, and get nothing, no answer!
I stand to face you in protest, and you give me a blank stare!
You’ve turned into my tormenter—
you slap me around, knock me about.
You raised me up so I was riding high
and then dropped me, and I crashed.
I know you’re determined to kill me,
to put me six feet under.
24-31 “What did I do to deserve this?
Did I ever hit anyone who was calling for help?
Haven’t I wept for those who live a hard life,
been heartsick over the lot of the poor?
But where did it get me?
I expected good but evil showed up.
I looked for light but darkness fell.
My stomach’s in a constant churning, never settles down.
Each day confronts me with more suffering.
I walk under a black cloud. The sun is gone.
I stand in the congregation and protest.
I howl with the jackals,
I hoot with the owls.
I’m black-and-blue all over,
burning up with fever.
My fiddle plays nothing but the blues;
my mouth harp wails laments.”
What Can I Expect from God?
31 1-4 “I made a solemn pact with myself
never to undress a girl with my eyes.
So what can I expect from God?
What do I deserve from God Almighty above?
Isn’t calamity reserved for the wicked?
Isn’t disaster supposed to strike those who do wrong?
Isn’t God looking, observing how I live?
Doesn’t he mark every step I take?
5-8 “Have I walked hand in hand with falsehood,
or hung out in the company of deceit?
Weigh me on a set of honest scales
so God has proof of my integrity.
If I’ve strayed off the straight and narrow,
wanted things I had no right to,
messed around with sin,
Go ahead, then—
give my portion to someone who deserves it.
9-12 “If I’ve let myself be seduced by a woman
and conspired to go to bed with her,
Fine, my wife has every right to go ahead
and sleep with anyone she wants to.
For disgusting behavior like that,
I’d deserve the worst punishment you could hand out.
Adultery is a fire that burns the house down;
I wouldn’t expect anything I count dear to survive it.
13-15 “Have I ever been unfair to my employees
when they brought a complaint to me?
What, then, will I do when God confronts me?
When God examines my books, what can I say?
Didn’t the same God who made me, make them?
Aren’t we all made of the same stuff, equals before God?
16-18 “Have I ignored the needs of the poor,
turned my back on the indigent,
Taken care of my own needs and fed my own face
while they languished?
Wasn’t my home always open to them?
Weren’t they always welcome at my table?
19-20 “Have I ever left a poor family shivering in the cold
when they had no warm clothes?
Didn’t the poor bless me when they saw me coming,
knowing I’d brought coats from my closet?
21-23 “If I’ve ever used my strength and influence
to take advantage of the unfortunate,
Go ahead, break both my arms,
cut off all my fingers!
The fear of God has kept me from these things—
how else could I ever face him?
If Only Someone Would Give Me a Hearing!
24-28 “Did I set my heart on making big money
or worship at the bank?
Did I boast about my wealth,
show off because I was well-off?
Was I ever so awed by the sun’s brilliance
and moved by the moon’s beauty
That I let myself become seduced by them
and worshiped them on the sly?
If so, I would deserve the worst of punishments,
for I would be betraying God himself.
29-30 “Did I ever gloat over my enemy’s ruin?
Or get excited over my rival’s bad luck?
No, I never said a word of detraction,
never cursed them, even under my breath.
31-34 “Didn’t those who worked for me say,
‘He fed us well. There were always second helpings’?
And no stranger ever had to spend a night in the street;
my doors were always open to travelers.
Did I hide my sin the way Adam did,
or conceal my guilt behind closed doors
Because I was afraid what people would say,
fearing the gossip of the neighbors so much
That I turned myself into a recluse?
You know good and well that I didn’t.
35-37 “Oh, if only someone would give me a hearing!
I’ve signed my name to my defense—let the Almighty One answer!
I want to see my indictment in writing.
Anyone’s welcome to read my defense;
I’ll write it on a poster and carry it around town.
I’m prepared to account for every move I’ve ever made—
to anyone and everyone, prince or pauper.
38-40 “If the very ground that I farm accuses me,
if even the furrows fill with tears from my abuse,
If I’ve ever raped the earth for my own profit
or dispossessed its rightful owners,
Then curse it with thistles instead of wheat,
curse it with weeds instead of barley.”
The words of Job to his three friends were finished.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson