Job’s Present State Is Humiliating

30 “But now those who are younger than I (A)mock me,
Whose fathers I refused to put with the dogs of my flock.
Indeed, what good was the strength of their hands to me?
Vigor had perished from them.
From poverty and famine they are gaunt,
They who gnaw at the dry ground by night in waste and desolation,
Who pluck saltweed by the bushes,
And whose food is the root of the broom shrub.
They are driven from the community;
They shout against them as against a thief,
So that they live on the slopes of ravines,
In holes in the ground and among the rocks.
Among the bushes they [a]cry out;
Under the weeds they are gathered together.
Worthless [b]fellows, even [c]those without a name,
They were cast out from the land.

“And now I have become their [d](B)taunt,
And I have become a [e](C)byword to them.
10 They loathe me and stand aloof from me,
And they do not [f]refrain from (D)spitting in my face.
11 Because He has undone [g]my [h]bowstring and (E)afflicted me,
They have cast off (F)the bridle before me.
12 On the right hand their [i]mob arises;
They (G)push aside my feet (H)and pile up their ways of destruction against me.
13 They (I)break up my path,
They promote my destruction;
No one restrains them.
14 As through a wide gap they come,
[j]Amid the storm they roll on.
15 (J)Sudden terrors are turned upon me;
They chase away my dignity like the wind,
And my [k]prosperity has passed away (K)like a cloud.

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Footnotes

  1. Job 30:7 Or bray
  2. Job 30:8 Lit sons
  3. Job 30:8 Lit sons
  4. Job 30:9 Lit song
  5. Job 30:9 I.e., prob. a word of insult
  6. Job 30:10 Lit withhold spit from my face
  7. Job 30:11 Some mss His
  8. Job 30:11 Or cord
  9. Job 30:12 Or youth arise
  10. Job 30:14 Lit Under
  11. Job 30:15 Or welfare

30 “But now they make sport of me,
    men who are younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
    to set with the dogs of my flock.
What could I gain from the strength of their hands,
    men whose vigor is gone?
Through want and hard hunger
    they gnaw the dry and desolate ground;[a]
they pick mallow and the leaves of bushes,
    and to warm themselves the roots of the broom.
They are driven out from among men;
    they shout after them as after a thief.
In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell,
    in holes of the earth and of the rocks.
Among the bushes they bray;
    under the nettles they huddle together.
A senseless, a disreputable brood,
    they have been whipped out of the land.

“And now I have become their song,
    I am a byword to them.
10 They abhor me, they keep aloof from me;
    they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.
11 Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me,
    they have cast off restraint in my presence.
12 On my right hand the rabble rise,
    they drive me[b] forth,
    they cast up against me their ways of destruction.
13 They break up my path,
    they promote my calamity;
    no one restrains[c] them.
14 As through[d] a wide breach they come;
    amid the crash they roll on.
15 Terrors are turned upon me;
    my honor is pursued as by the wind,
    and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.

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Footnotes

  1. Job 30:3 Heb ground yesterday waste
  2. Job 30:12 Heb my feet
  3. Job 30:13 Cn: Heb helps
  4. Job 30:14 Cn: Heb like