30 “But now they mock me,(A)
    men younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
    to put with my sheep dogs.(B)
Of what use was the strength of their hands to me,
    since their vigor had gone from them?
Haggard from want and hunger,
    they roamed[a] the parched land(C)
    in desolate wastelands(D) at night.(E)
In the brush they gathered salt herbs,(F)
    and their food[b] was the root of the broom bush.(G)
They were banished from human society,
    shouted at as if they were thieves.
They were forced to live in the dry stream beds,
    among the rocks and in holes in the ground.(H)
They brayed(I) among the bushes(J)
    and huddled in the undergrowth.
A base and nameless brood,(K)
    they were driven out of the land.(L)

“And now those young men mock me(M) in song;(N)
    I have become a byword(O) among them.
10 They detest me(P) and keep their distance;
    they do not hesitate to spit in my face.(Q)
11 Now that God has unstrung my bow(R) and afflicted me,(S)
    they throw off restraint(T) in my presence.
12 On my right(U) the tribe[c] attacks;
    they lay snares(V) for my feet,(W)
    they build their siege ramps against me.(X)
13 They break up my road;(Y)
    they succeed in destroying me.(Z)
    ‘No one can help him,’ they say.
14 They advance as through a gaping breach;(AA)
    amid the ruins they come rolling in.
15 Terrors(AB) overwhelm me;(AC)
    my dignity is driven away as by the wind,
    my safety vanishes like a cloud.(AD)

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Footnotes

  1. Job 30:3 Or gnawed
  2. Job 30:4 Or fuel
  3. Job 30:12 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.

Job’s Final Defense Continued

30 “But now those younger than I, as far as days, laugh at me,
whose fathers I rejected for setting with the dogs of my sheep and goats.
Moreover, what use to me is the strength of their hands?[a]
With them, vigor is destroyed.
Through want and through barren hunger
they are gnawing in the dry region in the darkness of desolation and waste.
They are picking salt herbs, the leaves of bushes,
and the roots of broom trees to warm themselves.
They were driven out from fellow people;
they shout at them as at a[b] thief,
so that they dwell[c]
in holes of the ground and in the rocks.
They bray among the bushes;
they are gathered under the nettles.
A senseless crowd,[d] yes, a disreputable brood,[e]
they were cast out from the land.
“But now I am their mocking song,
and I have become a byword for them.
10 They abhor me; they keep aloof from me,
and they do not withhold spit from my face
11 because he has loosened his bowstring and humbled me,
and they have thrown off restraint in my presence.[f]
12 On the right hand the brood rises[g] up;
they put me to flight,[h]
and they build up their siege ramps[i] against me.
13 They destroy my path;
they promote my destruction;
they have no helper.
14 As through a wide breach they come;
amid a crash they rush on.
15 Terrors are turned upon me;
my honor is pursued as by the wind,
and my hope of deliverance passed by like a cloud.

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Footnotes

  1. Job 30:2 Literally “the strength of their hands what is for me”
  2. Job 30:5 Hebrew “the”
  3. Job 30:6 Literally “to dwell”
  4. Job 30:8 Literally “sons of good-for-nothing”
  5. Job 30:8 Literally “sons of no name”
  6. Job 30:11 Literally “from my face”
  7. Job 30:12 Hebrew “rise”
  8. Job 30:12 Literally “my feet they send away”
  9. Job 30:12 Literally “the ways/paths of their disaster”