Job 30:23-31
The Message
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.”
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
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