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.
Job 30
New King James Version
Job’s Wealth Now Poverty
30 “But now they mock at me, men [a]younger than I,
Whose fathers I disdained to put with the dogs of my flock.
2 Indeed, what profit is the strength of their hands to me?
Their vigor has perished.
3 They are gaunt from want and famine,
Fleeing late to the wilderness, desolate and waste,
4 Who pluck [b]mallow by the bushes,
And broom tree roots for their food.
5 They were driven out from among men,
They shouted at them as at a thief.
6 They had to live in the clefts of the [c]valleys,
In [d]caves of the earth and the rocks.
7 Among the bushes they brayed,
Under the nettles they nestled.
8 They were sons of fools,
Yes, sons of vile men;
They were scourged from the land.
9 “And(A) now I am their taunting song;
Yes, I am their byword.
10 They abhor me, they keep far from me;
They do not hesitate (B)to spit in my face.
11 Because (C)He has loosed [e]my bowstring and afflicted me,
They have cast off restraint before me.
12 At my right hand the rabble arises;
They push away my feet,
And (D)they raise against me their ways of destruction.
13 They break up my path,
They promote my calamity;
They have no helper.
14 They come as broad breakers;
Under the ruinous storm they roll along.
15 Terrors are turned upon me;
They pursue my honor as the wind,
And my prosperity has passed like a cloud.
16 “And(E) now my soul is (F)poured out because of my plight;
The days of affliction take hold of me.
17 My bones are pierced in me at night,
And my gnawing pains take no rest.
18 By great force my garment is disfigured;
It binds me about as the collar of my coat.
19 He has cast me into the mire,
And I have become like dust and ashes.
20 “I (G)cry out to You, but You do not answer me;
I stand up, and You regard me.
21 But You have become cruel to me;
With the strength of Your hand You (H)oppose me.
22 You lift me up to the wind and cause me to ride on it;
You spoil my success.
23 For I know that You will bring me to death,
And to the house (I)appointed for all living.
24 “Surely He would not stretch out His hand against a heap of ruins,
If they cry out when He destroys it.
25 (J)Have I not wept for him who was in trouble?
Has not my soul grieved for the poor?
26 (K)But when I looked for good, evil came to me;
And when I waited for light, then came darkness.
27 [f]My heart is in turmoil and cannot rest;
Days of affliction confront me.
28 (L)I go about mourning, but not in the sun;
I stand up in the assembly and cry out for help.
29 (M)I am a brother of jackals,
And a companion of ostriches.
30 (N)My skin grows black and falls from me;
(O)My bones burn with fever.
31 My harp is turned to mourning,
And my flute to the voice of those who weep.
Iyov 30
Orthodox Jewish Bible
30 But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose avot I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my tzon.
2 Yea, what use was the koach of their hands to me, since their vigor hath perished?
3 For choser (want, lack) and hunger they gnawed the parched ground desolate and waste.
4 They cut up mallow plants by the bushes, and juniper roots for their lechem.
5 They were banished from among men, (they shouted after them as after a ganav);
6 To dwell in the clefts of the wadis, in holes of aphar, and in the rocks.
7 Among the bushes they brayed; tachat (under) the underbrush they were huddled together.
8 They were bnei naval, yea, sons of base men; they were driven forth out of ha’aretz.
9 And atah (now) am I their mocking song, yea, I am their byword.
10 They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not rok (spit) in my face [Mt 26:67].
11 Because He hath loosed my bowstring, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the resen (bridle) before me.
12 Upon my yamin (right hand) rise up the rabble; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.
13 They break up my road, they set forward my overthrow, they have no ozer (helper).
14 They approach me as through a wide breach; in the shoah (desolation, Holocaust), they rolled themselves upon me.
15 Ballahot (terrors) are turned upon me; they pursue my dignity like the ruach, and my safety passeth away like a cloud.
16 And now my nefesh ebbs away from me; the yemei oni have taken hold upon me.
17 My atzmot are pierced in me in the night, and my gnawing pains take no rest.
18 By great koach is my garment disfigured; it bindeth me about like the collar of my kuttonet (chiton, robe).
19 He hath cast me into the chomer, and I am become like aphar and ashes.
20 I cry unto Thee, and Thou dost answer me lo (not); I stand up, and Thou regardest me not.
21 Thou art become cruel to me; with Thy strong yad Thou opposest Thyself against me.
22 Thou liftest me up to the ruach; Thou causest me to drive along, and vanish in the roaring of the storm.
23 For I know that Thou wilt bring me down to mavet, to the bais mo’ed l’khol chai.
24 Yet will not one stretch out his yad in a heap of ruin, or cry out for help in his disaster.
25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? Was not my nefesh grieved for the evyon (needy)?
26 When I looked for tov, then rah came unto me; and when I waited for ohr, there came ofel (darkness).
27 My bowels boiled, and rested not; yemei oni met me.
28 I went mourning without the sun; I stood up, and I cried out in the kahal.
29 I am an ach to jackals, and a re’a to owls.
30 My ohr (skin) grows black upon me, and my atzmot are burned with fever.
31 My kinnor (harp) also is turned to evel (mourning), and my flute into the voice of them that weep.
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Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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