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
Modern English Version
30 “But now those who are younger than I mock me,
whose fathers I disdained to put with the dogs of my flock.
2 Yes, how does the strength of their hands profit me?
Their vigor has perished.
3 For want and famine
they gnawed the parched land;
fleeing into the wilderness in former time, desolate and waste.
4 Who pluck mallow by the bushes,
and juniper roots for their food.
5 They were driven out from among men;
they shout after them as after a thief.
6 They had to dwell in the rocky riverbeds,
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, yes, children of vile men;
they were scourged from the earth.
9 “Now I am their taunting song;
yes, I am their byword.
10 They abhor me, they flee far from me;
they do not hesitate to spit in my face.
11 Because He has loosed my bowstring and afflicted me,
they have cast off the bridle before me.
12 At my right hand their brood arises;
they push away my feet,
and they raise against me their ways of destruction.
13 They tear apart my path,
they promote my calamity;
they have no helper.
14 They came upon me as a wide breach, with a crash they came;
in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.
15 Terrors are turned on me;
they pursue my dignity like the wind,
and my help passes away as a cloud.
16 “Now my soul is poured out within me;
the days of affliction have taken hold of me.
17 My bones are pierced in me at night,
and my sinews have no rest.
18 By the great force of my disease my garment is changed;
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 cry unto You, but You do not hear me;
I stand up, and You do not regard me.
21 You have become cruel to me;
with Your strong hand You oppose me.
22 You lift me up to the wind and cause me to ride on it;
You dissolve my success.
23 For I know that You will bring me to death,
and to the house appointed for all living.
24 “Surely He will not stretch out His hand to the grave,
though they cry when He destroys it.
25 Did I not weep for him who was in trouble?
Was not my soul grieved for the poor?
26 When I looked for good, then evil disaster came upon me;
and when I waited for light, darkness came.
27 My insides boiled and did not rest;
the days of affliction have met me.
28 I went mourning without the sun;
I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.
29 I am a brother of jackals
and a companion of owls.
30 My skin is black upon me,
and my bones are burned with fever.
31 My harp is turned to mourning,
and my flute to the voice of those who weep.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.