Job 30
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
30 But now the younger in time scorn me, whose fathers I would not have set with the dogs of my flock:
2 The strength of whose hands was to me as nothing, and they were thought unworthy of life itself.
3 Barren with want and hunger, who gnawed in the wilderness, disfigured with calamity and misery.
4 And they ate grass, and barks of trees, and the root of junipers was their food.
5 Who snatched up these things out of the valleys, and when they had found any of them, they ran to them with a cry.
6 They dwelt in the desert places of torrents, and in caves of earth, or upon the gravel.
7 They pleased themselves among these kind of things, and counted it delightful to be under the briers.
8 The children of foolish and base men, and not appearing at all upon the earth.
9 Now I am turned into their song, and am become their byword.
10 They abhor me, and flee far from me, and are not afraid to spit in my face.
11 For he hath opened his quiver, and hath afflicted me, and hath put a bridle into my mouth.
12 At the right hand of my rising, my calamities forthwith arose: they have overthrown my feet, and have overwhelmed me with their paths as with waves.
13 They have destroyed my ways, they have lain in wait against me, and they have prevailed, and there was none to help.
14 They have rushed in upon me, as when a wall is broken, and a gate opened, and have rolled themselves down to my miseries.
15 I am brought to nothing: as a wind thou hast taken away my desire: and my prosperity hath passed away like a cloud.
16 And now my soul fadeth within myself, and the days of affliction possess me.
17 In the night my bone is pierced with sorrows: and they that feed upon me, do not sleep.
18 With the multitude of them my garment is consumed, and they have girded me about, as with the collar of my coat.
19 I am compared to dirt, and am likened to embers and ashes.
20 I cry to thee, and thou hearest me not: I stand up, and thou dost not regard me.
21 Thou art changed to be cruel toward me, and in the hardness of thy hand thou art against me.
22 Thou hast lifted me up, and set me as it were upon the wind, and thou hast mightily dashed me.
23 I know that thou wilt deliver me to death, where a house is appointed for every one that liveth.
24 But yet thou stretchest not forth thy hand to their consumption: and if they shall fall down thou wilt save.
25 I wept heretofore for him that was afflicted, and my soul had compassion on the poor.
26 I expected good things, and evils are come upon me: I waited for light, and darkness broke out.
27 My inner parts have boiled without any rest, the days of affliction have prevented me.
28 I went mourning without indignation; I rose up, and cried in the crowd.
29 I was the brother of dragons, and companion of ostriches.
30 My skin is become black upon me, and my bones are dried up with heat.
31 My harp is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of those that weep.
Job 30
The Voice
30 Job: But now they mock me,
these young men whose fathers I hold in such contempt.
I wouldn’t trust them with my herds
as I do my dogs.
2 What good does their strength do me?
Their potency has wilted.
3 Gaunt from starvation, haggard from hunger that drives them to gnaw the ground in the night,
a ground all wasted and hollowed-out,
4 They are left with the desperate foods of the famished—
plucking mallow from the bushes by the salt marshes,
and making the ashy broom tree root their staple.
5 The people from the town chase each one out of his neighborhood;
they howl at all of them as if they were common thieves,
6 And push them out to live in the deep valleys of the wadis—
those desert streams that come and go—
So these outcasts seek shelter in the overhangs and crumbling caves
that line the banks of no-man’s-land.
7 Braying like donkeys from the bushes,
huddled together in the prickly undergrowth are
8 Fools and sons of no-names,
driven by lashes out from the bosom of the land.
Even the fools and outcasts use Job’s name as an insult. His character has been brought low by those who should be beneath him.
9 And now they sing of me in taunt and parody,
and make my name a byword among them.
10 They abhor me, keep their distance,
and feel free to spit in my face.
11 Because God has unstrung His bowstring and stricken me with suffering,
they are no longer restrained toward me.
12 To my right, the horde[a] arises.
They seek to knock me off my feet,
piling their disastrous ways against me.
13 They lay waste to my path
and benefit from my destruction,
and no one is there to stop them.
14 As through a wall breached, they advance easily.
Their thunderstorm of wheels rolled across my ruins.
15 Alas! A storm of terrors has turned toward me and is upon me;
my dignity is blown away as by the wind;
my prosperity vanishes like a wispy cloud.
16 And now my own soul is drawn out, poured over me.
The days of misery have taken hold of me;
I am firmly in their grasp.
17 By night, my pain is at work, boring holes in my bones;
it gnaws at me and never lies down to rest.
18 With great force, God wraps around me like my clothing.
He binds tightly about my neck as if He were the collar of my tunic.[b]
19 He has pushed me off into the mud,
and I am reduced from man to dust and ashes.
20 I call out to You, God, but You refuse to answer me.
When I arise, You merely examine me.
21 You have changed.
Now You are cruel to me;
You employ Your strength to attack me.
22 You pull me up into the wind and make me ride upon it
until I am fractured and dissipated in the storm.
23 I know where this ends.
You will send me off to death
and usher me to that meetinghouse where all the living one day go.
24 And yet does not a person trapped in ruins stretch out his hand,
and in this disaster does he not cry out for help?[c]
25 Did I not grieve for the hard days of another
or weep for the pains of the poor?
26 And yet when I longed for the good, evil came;
when I awaited the light, thick darkness arrived instead.
27 I am boiling on the inside,
and it will not quit;
yet the days of misery still come for me.
28 I drift in darkness, the sun absent;
I arise in the assembly
and call out for help.
29 But who will come now that I am roaming the wilderness?
I am a brother to jackals, a friend of ostriches.
30 Despite my earnest cries, my skin burns until it is black and flakes off,
and my bones burn with fever.
31 And so my harp is tuned to the key of mourning,
and my flute is pitched to the sound of weeping.
Job 30
King James Version
30 But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.
2 Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished?
3 For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.
4 Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat.
5 They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;)
6 To dwell in the cliffs of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks.
7 Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.
8 They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.
9 And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword.
10 They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.
11 Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.
12 Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.
13 They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.
14 They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.
15 Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.
16 And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
17 My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.
18 By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
19 He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.
20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not.
21 Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.
22 Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance.
23 For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
24 Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.
25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?
26 When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
27 My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.
28 I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.
29 I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
30 My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.
31 My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.
Job 30
American Standard Version
30 But now they that are younger than I have me in derision,
Whose fathers I disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.
2 Yea, the strength of their hands, whereto should it profit me?
Men in whom [a]ripe age is perished.
3 They are gaunt with want and famine;
[b]They gnaw the dry ground, [c]in the gloom of wasteness and desolation.
4 They pluck salt-wort by the bushes;
And the roots of the broom are [d]their food.
5 They are driven forth from the midst of men;
They cry after them as after a thief;
6 So that they dwell in frightful valleys,
In holes of the earth and of the rocks.
7 Among the bushes they bray;
Under the [e]nettles they [f]are gathered together.
8 They are children of fools, yea, children of [g]base men;
They [h]were scourged out of the land.
9 And now I am become their song,
Yea, I am a byword unto them.
10 They abhor me, they stand aloof from me,
And spare not to spit [i]in my face.
11 For he hath loosed [j]his cord, and afflicted me;
And they have cast off the bridle before me.
12 Upon my right hand rise the [k]rabble;
They thrust aside my feet,
And they cast up against me their ways of destruction.
13 They [l]mar my path,
They set forward my calamity,
Even men that have no helper.
14 [m]As through a wide breach they come:
In the midst of the ruin they roll themselves upon me.
15 Terrors are turned upon me;
[n]They chase [o]mine honor as the wind;
And my welfare is passed away as a cloud.
16 And now my soul is poured out [p]within me;
Days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
17 In the night season my bones are [q]pierced [r]in me,
And [s]the pains that gnaw me take no rest.
18 By God’s great force is my garment disfigured;
It bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
19 He hath cast me into the mire,
And I am become like dust and ashes.
20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not answer me:
I stand up, and thou gazest at me.
21 Thou art turned to be cruel to me;
With the might of thy hand thou persecutest me.
22 Thou liftest me up to the wind, thou causest me to ride upon it;
And thou dissolvest me in the storm.
23 For I know that thou wilt bring me to death,
And to [t]the house appointed for all living.
24 Howbeit doth not one stretch out the hand in his fall?
Or in his calamity therefore cry for help?
25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble?
Was not my soul grieved for the needy?
26 When I looked for good, then evil came;
And when I waited for light, there came darkness.
27 My heart is troubled, and resteth not;
Days of affliction are come upon me.
28 I go [u]mourning without the sun:
I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.
29 I am a brother to jackals,
And a companion to ostriches.
30 My skin is black, and falleth from me,
And my bones are burned with heat.
31 Therefore is my harp turned to mourning,
And my pipe into the voice of them that weep.
Footnotes
- Job 30:2 Or, vigor
- Job 30:3 Or, They flee into the wilderness, into etc.
- Job 30:3 Or, which yesternight was. Or, on the eve of
- Job 30:4 Or, to warm them
- Job 30:7 Or, wild vetches
- Job 30:7 Or, stretch themselves
- Job 30:8 Hebrew men of no name.
- Job 30:8 Or, are outcasts from the land
- Job 30:10 Or, at the sight of me
- Job 30:11 According to another reading, my cord (or, bowstring).
- Job 30:12 Or, brood
- Job 30:13 Or, break up
- Job 30:14 Or, As a wide breaking in of waters
- Job 30:15 Or, Thou chasest
- Job 30:15 Or, my nobility
- Job 30:16 Hebrew upon.
- Job 30:17 Or, corroded and drop away from me
- Job 30:17 Hebrew from off.
- Job 30:17 Or, my sinews take etc.
- Job 30:23 Or, the house of meeting for etc.
- Job 30:28 Or, blackened, but not by the sun
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The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
Public Domain (Why are modern Bible translations copyrighted?)