Job 30
International Children’s Bible
30 “But now men who are younger than I make fun of me.
I would not have even let their fathers
sit with my sheep dogs.
2 Their hands had no strength to help me.
They had even lost their strength to work.
3 They were thin from being hungry and in need.
They wandered through the dry and ruined land at night.
4 They gathered desert plants by the brush for food.
They even ate the root of the broom tree.
5 They were forced to live away from other people.
People shouted at them as if they were thieves.
6 These young men had to live in dried up streambeds.
They lived in caves and among the rocks.
7 They howled like animals out among the bushes.
And they huddled together in the brush.
8 They are worthless people without names.
They were forced to leave the land.
9 “Now they make fun of me with songs.
My name has become a joke among them.
10 They hate me and stay far away from me.
But they do not mind spitting in my face.
11 God has taken away my strength and made me suffer.
So they attack me with all their anger.
12 On my right side they attack me like a mob.
They lay traps for my feet.
They prepare to attack me.
13 They break up my road.
They work to destroy me
without anyone stopping them.
14 They go forward as if through a hole in the wall.
They roll in among the ruins.
15 Great fears overwhelm me.
They blow my honor away as if by a great wind.
My safety disappears like a cloud.
16 “Now my life is almost over.
My days are full of suffering.
17 At night my bones ache.
Gnawing pains never stop.
18 In his great power God grabs hold of my clothing.
He chokes me with the collar of my coat.
19 He throws me into the mud.
And I become like dirt and ashes.
20 “I cry out to you, God, but you do not answer.
I stand up, but you just look at me.
21 You turn on me without mercy.
You attack me with your powerful hand.
22 You snatch me up and throw me into the wind.
You toss me about in the storm.
23 I know you will bring me down to death.
You will bring me to the place where all living people must go.
24 “Surely no one would hurt a ruined man
when he cries for help in his time of trouble.
25 I have cried for those who are in trouble.
My soul has been very sad for poor people.
26 But when I hoped for good, only evil came to me.
When I looked for light, darkness came.
27 I never stop being upset inside.
Days of suffering are ahead of me.
28 I have become black, but not by the sun.
I stand up in public and cry for help.
29 It is as if I have become a brother to wild dogs
and a friend to ostriches.
30 My skin becomes black and peels off.
My body burns with fever.
31 My harp is tuned for singing a sad song.
And my flute is tuned for the sound of loud crying.
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
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.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible