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Job 30
Common English Bible
Job 30
Common English Bible
Mockers
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.
Specific mocking behavior
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[a] 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;[b]
they roll along beneath the ruin.
15 Terrors crash upon me;
they sweep away my honor like wind;
my safety disappears like a cloud.
Accusation against God
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[c] my clothing;[d]
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.
Job’s agony
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.
Job 30
New International Version
Job 30
New International Version
30 “But now they mock me,(A)
men younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
to put with my sheep dogs.(B)
2 Of what use was the strength of their hands to me,
since their vigor had gone from them?
3 Haggard from want and hunger,
they roamed[a] the parched land(C)
in desolate wastelands(D) at night.(E)
4 In the brush they gathered salt herbs,(F)
and their food[b] was the root of the broom bush.(G)
5 They were banished from human society,
shouted at as if they were thieves.
6 They were forced to live in the dry stream beds,
among the rocks and in holes in the ground.(H)
7 They brayed(I) among the bushes(J)
and huddled in the undergrowth.
8 A base and nameless brood,(K)
they were driven out of the land.(L)
9 “And now those young men mock me(M) in song;(N)
I have become a byword(O) among them.
10 They detest me(P) and keep their distance;
they do not hesitate to spit in my face.(Q)
11 Now that God has unstrung my bow(R) and afflicted me,(S)
they throw off restraint(T) in my presence.
12 On my right(U) the tribe[c] attacks;
they lay snares(V) for my feet,(W)
they build their siege ramps against me.(X)
13 They break up my road;(Y)
they succeed in destroying me.(Z)
‘No one can help him,’ they say.
14 They advance as through a gaping breach;(AA)
amid the ruins they come rolling in.
15 Terrors(AB) overwhelm me;(AC)
my dignity is driven away as by the wind,
my safety vanishes like a cloud.(AD)
16 “And now my life ebbs away;(AE)
days of suffering grip me.(AF)
17 Night pierces my bones;
my gnawing pains never rest.(AG)
18 In his great power(AH) God becomes like clothing to me[d];
he binds me like the neck of my garment.
19 He throws me into the mud,(AI)
and I am reduced to dust and ashes.(AJ)
20 “I cry out to you,(AK) God, but you do not answer;(AL)
I stand up, but you merely look at me.
21 You turn on me ruthlessly;(AM)
with the might of your hand(AN) you attack me.(AO)
22 You snatch me up and drive me before the wind;(AP)
you toss me about in the storm.(AQ)
23 I know you will bring me down to death,(AR)
to the place appointed for all the living.(AS)
24 “Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man(AT)
when he cries for help in his distress.(AU)
25 Have I not wept for those in trouble?(AV)
Has not my soul grieved for the poor?(AW)
26 Yet when I hoped for good, evil came;
when I looked for light, then came darkness.(AX)
27 The churning inside me never stops;(AY)
days of suffering confront me.(AZ)
28 I go about blackened,(BA) but not by the sun;
I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.(BB)
29 I have become a brother of jackals,(BC)
a companion of owls.(BD)
30 My skin grows black(BE) and peels;(BF)
my body burns with fever.(BG)
31 My lyre is tuned to mourning,(BH)
and my pipe(BI) to the sound of wailing.
Job 30
Contemporary English Version
Job 30
Contemporary English Version
Job Continues
Young People Now Insult Me
30 Young people now insult me,
although their fathers
would have been a disgrace
to my sheep dogs.
2 And those who insult me
are helpless themselves.
3 They must claw the desert sand
in the dark for something
to satisfy their hunger.[a]
4 They gather tasteless shrubs
for food and firewood,
5 and they are run out of towns,
as though they were thieves.
6 Their only homes are ditches
or holes between rocks,
7 where they bray like donkeys
gathering around shrubs.
8 And like senseless donkeys
they are chased away.
Those Worthless Nobodies
9 Those worthless nobodies
make up jokes and songs
to disgrace me.
10 They are hateful
and keep their distance,
even while spitting
in my direction.
11 God has destroyed me,
and so they don't care
what they do.[b]
12 Their attacks never stop,
though I am defenseless,
and my feet are trapped.[c]
13 Without any help,
they prevent my escape,
destroying me completely[d]
14 and leaving me crushed.
15 Terror has me surrounded;
my reputation and my riches
have vanished like a cloud.
I Am Sick at Heart
16 I am sick at heart!
Pain has taken its toll.
17 Night chews on my bones,
causing endless torment,
18 and God has shrunk my skin,
choking me to death.[e]
19 I have been thrown in the dirt
and now am dirt myself.
20 I beg God for help,
but there is no answer;
and when I stand up,
he simply stares.
21 God has turned brutal,
22 stirring up a windstorm
to toss me about.
23 Soon he will send me home
to the world of the dead,
where we all must go.
24 No one refuses help to others,
when disaster strikes.[f]
25 I mourned for the poor
and those who suffered.
26 But when I beg for relief
and light,
all I receive are disaster
and darkness.
27 My stomach is tied in knots;
pain is my daily companion.
28 My days are dark and gloomy
and in the city council
I stand and cry out,
29 making mournful sounds
like jackals[g] and owls.
30 My skin is so parched,
that it peels right off,
and my bones are burning.
31 My only songs are sorrow
and sadness.
Footnotes
- 30.3 hunger: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 3.
- 30.11 God … do: Or “They have destroyed me, and so they don't care what else they do.”
- 30.12 trapped: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 12.
- 30.13 destroying … completely: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 30.18 death: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 18.
- 30.24 strikes: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 24.
- 30.29 jackals: Desert animals related to wolves, but smaller.
Common English Bible (CEB)
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.
Contemporary English Version (CEV) 
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