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Job 30-31
The Message
Job 30-31
The Message
The Pain Never Lets Up
30 1-8 “But no longer. Now I’m the butt of their jokes—
young thugs! whippersnappers!
Why, I considered their fathers
mere inexperienced pups.
But they are worse than dogs—good for nothing,
stray, mangy animals,
Half-starved, scavenging the back alleys,
howling at the moon;
Homeless ragamuffins
chewing on old bones and licking old tin cans;
Outcasts from the community,
cursed as dangerous delinquents.
Nobody would put up with them;
they were driven from the neighborhood.
You could hear them out there at the edge of town,
yelping and barking, huddled in junkyards,
A gang of beggars and no-names,
thrown out on their ears.
9-15 “But now I’m the one they’re after,
mistreating me, taunting and mocking.
They abhor me, they abuse me.
How dare those scoundrels—they spit in my face!
Now that God has undone me and left me in a heap,
they hold nothing back. Anything goes.
They come at me from my blind side,
trip me up, then jump on me while I’m down.
They throw every kind of obstacle in my path,
determined to ruin me—
and no one lifts a finger to help me!
They violate my broken body,
trample through the rubble of my ruined life.
Terrors assault me—
my dignity in shreds,
salvation up in smoke.
16-19 “And now my life drains out,
as suffering seizes and grips me hard.
Night gnaws at my bones;
the pain never lets up.
I am tied hand and foot, my neck in a noose.
I twist and turn.
Thrown facedown in the muck,
I’m a muddy mess, inside and out.
What Did I Do to Deserve This?
20-23 “I shout for help, God, and get nothing, no answer!
I stand to face you in protest, and you give me a blank stare!
You’ve turned into my tormenter—
you slap me around, knock me about.
You raised me up so I was riding high
and then dropped me, and I crashed.
I know you’re determined to kill me,
to put me six feet under.
24-31 “What did I do to deserve this?
Did I ever hit anyone who was calling for help?
Haven’t I wept for those who live a hard life,
been heartsick over the lot of the poor?
But where did it get me?
I expected good but evil showed up.
I looked for light but darkness fell.
My stomach’s in a constant churning, never settles down.
Each day confronts me with more suffering.
I walk under a black cloud. The sun is gone.
I stand in the congregation and protest.
I howl with the jackals,
I hoot with the owls.
I’m black-and-blue all over,
burning up with fever.
My fiddle plays nothing but the blues;
my mouth harp wails laments.”
What Can I Expect from God?
31 1-4 “I made a solemn pact with myself
never to undress a girl with my eyes.
So what can I expect from God?
What do I deserve from God Almighty above?
Isn’t calamity reserved for the wicked?
Isn’t disaster supposed to strike those who do wrong?
Isn’t God looking, observing how I live?
Doesn’t he mark every step I take?
5-8 “Have I walked hand in hand with falsehood,
or hung out in the company of deceit?
Weigh me on a set of honest scales
so God has proof of my integrity.
If I’ve strayed off the straight and narrow,
wanted things I had no right to,
messed around with sin,
Go ahead, then—
give my portion to someone who deserves it.
9-12 “If I’ve let myself be seduced by a woman
and conspired to go to bed with her,
Fine, my wife has every right to go ahead
and sleep with anyone she wants to.
For disgusting behavior like that,
I’d deserve the worst punishment you could hand out.
Adultery is a fire that burns the house down;
I wouldn’t expect anything I count dear to survive it.
13-15 “Have I ever been unfair to my employees
when they brought a complaint to me?
What, then, will I do when God confronts me?
When God examines my books, what can I say?
Didn’t the same God who made me, make them?
Aren’t we all made of the same stuff, equals before God?
16-18 “Have I ignored the needs of the poor,
turned my back on the indigent,
Taken care of my own needs and fed my own face
while they languished?
Wasn’t my home always open to them?
Weren’t they always welcome at my table?
19-20 “Have I ever left a poor family shivering in the cold
when they had no warm clothes?
Didn’t the poor bless me when they saw me coming,
knowing I’d brought coats from my closet?
21-23 “If I’ve ever used my strength and influence
to take advantage of the unfortunate,
Go ahead, break both my arms,
cut off all my fingers!
The fear of God has kept me from these things—
how else could I ever face him?
If Only Someone Would Give Me a Hearing!
24-28 “Did I set my heart on making big money
or worship at the bank?
Did I boast about my wealth,
show off because I was well-off?
Was I ever so awed by the sun’s brilliance
and moved by the moon’s beauty
That I let myself become seduced by them
and worshiped them on the sly?
If so, I would deserve the worst of punishments,
for I would be betraying God himself.
29-30 “Did I ever gloat over my enemy’s ruin?
Or get excited over my rival’s bad luck?
No, I never said a word of detraction,
never cursed them, even under my breath.
31-34 “Didn’t those who worked for me say,
‘He fed us well. There were always second helpings’?
And no stranger ever had to spend a night in the street;
my doors were always open to travelers.
Did I hide my sin the way Adam did,
or conceal my guilt behind closed doors
Because I was afraid what people would say,
fearing the gossip of the neighbors so much
That I turned myself into a recluse?
You know good and well that I didn’t.
35-37 “Oh, if only someone would give me a hearing!
I’ve signed my name to my defense—let the Almighty One answer!
I want to see my indictment in writing.
Anyone’s welcome to read my defense;
I’ll write it on a poster and carry it around town.
I’m prepared to account for every move I’ve ever made—
to anyone and everyone, prince or pauper.
38-40 “If the very ground that I farm accuses me,
if even the furrows fill with tears from my abuse,
If I’ve ever raped the earth for my own profit
or dispossessed its rightful owners,
Then curse it with thistles instead of wheat,
curse it with weeds instead of barley.”
The words of Job to his three friends were finished.
Job 30-31
New International Version
Job 30-31
New International Version
30 “But now they mock me,(A)
men younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
to put with my sheep dogs.(B)
2 Of what use was the strength of their hands to me,
since their vigor had gone from them?
3 Haggard from want and hunger,
they roamed[a] the parched land(C)
in desolate wastelands(D) at night.(E)
4 In the brush they gathered salt herbs,(F)
and their food[b] was the root of the broom bush.(G)
5 They were banished from human society,
shouted at as if they were thieves.
6 They were forced to live in the dry stream beds,
among the rocks and in holes in the ground.(H)
7 They brayed(I) among the bushes(J)
and huddled in the undergrowth.
8 A base and nameless brood,(K)
they were driven out of the land.(L)
9 “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)
16 “And now my life ebbs away;(AE)
days of suffering grip me.(AF)
17 Night pierces my bones;
my gnawing pains never rest.(AG)
18 In his great power(AH) God becomes like clothing to me[d];
he binds me like the neck of my garment.
19 He throws me into the mud,(AI)
and I am reduced to dust and ashes.(AJ)
20 “I cry out to you,(AK) God, but you do not answer;(AL)
I stand up, but you merely look at me.
21 You turn on me ruthlessly;(AM)
with the might of your hand(AN) you attack me.(AO)
22 You snatch me up and drive me before the wind;(AP)
you toss me about in the storm.(AQ)
23 I know you will bring me down to death,(AR)
to the place appointed for all the living.(AS)
24 “Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man(AT)
when he cries for help in his distress.(AU)
25 Have I not wept for those in trouble?(AV)
Has not my soul grieved for the poor?(AW)
26 Yet when I hoped for good, evil came;
when I looked for light, then came darkness.(AX)
27 The churning inside me never stops;(AY)
days of suffering confront me.(AZ)
28 I go about blackened,(BA) but not by the sun;
I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.(BB)
29 I have become a brother of jackals,(BC)
a companion of owls.(BD)
30 My skin grows black(BE) and peels;(BF)
my body burns with fever.(BG)
31 My lyre is tuned to mourning,(BH)
and my pipe(BI) to the sound of wailing.
31 “I made a covenant with my eyes(BJ)
not to look lustfully at a young woman.(BK)
2 For what is our lot(BL) from God above,
our heritage from the Almighty on high?(BM)
3 Is it not ruin(BN) for the wicked,
disaster(BO) for those who do wrong?(BP)
4 Does he not see my ways(BQ)
and count my every step?(BR)
5 “If I have walked with falsehood
or my foot has hurried after deceit(BS)—
6 let God weigh me(BT) in honest scales(BU)
and he will know that I am blameless(BV)—
7 if my steps have turned from the path,(BW)
if my heart has been led by my eyes,
or if my hands(BX) have been defiled,(BY)
8 then may others eat what I have sown,(BZ)
and may my crops be uprooted.(CA)
9 “If my heart has been enticed(CB) by a woman,(CC)
or if I have lurked at my neighbor’s door,
10 then may my wife grind(CD) another man’s grain,
and may other men sleep with her.(CE)
11 For that would have been wicked,(CF)
a sin to be judged.(CG)
12 It is a fire(CH) that burns to Destruction[e];(CI)
it would have uprooted my harvest.(CJ)
13 “If I have denied justice to any of my servants,(CK)
whether male or female,
when they had a grievance against me,(CL)
14 what will I do when God confronts me?(CM)
What will I answer when called to account?(CN)
15 Did not he who made me in the womb make them?(CO)
Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?(CP)
16 “If I have denied the desires of the poor(CQ)
or let the eyes of the widow(CR) grow weary,(CS)
17 if I have kept my bread to myself,
not sharing it with the fatherless(CT)—
18 but from my youth I reared them as a father would,
and from my birth I guided the widow(CU)—
19 if I have seen anyone perishing for lack of clothing,(CV)
or the needy(CW) without garments,
20 and their hearts did not bless me(CX)
for warming them with the fleece(CY) from my sheep,
21 if I have raised my hand against the fatherless,(CZ)
knowing that I had influence in court,(DA)
22 then let my arm fall from the shoulder,
let it be broken off at the joint.(DB)
23 For I dreaded destruction from God,(DC)
and for fear of his splendor(DD) I could not do such things.(DE)
24 “If I have put my trust in gold(DF)
or said to pure gold, ‘You are my security,’(DG)
25 if I have rejoiced over my great wealth,(DH)
the fortune my hands had gained,(DI)
26 if I have regarded the sun(DJ) in its radiance
or the moon(DK) moving in splendor,
27 so that my heart was secretly enticed(DL)
and my hand offered them a kiss of homage,(DM)
28 then these also would be sins to be judged,(DN)
for I would have been unfaithful to God on high.(DO)
29 “If I have rejoiced at my enemy’s misfortune(DP)
or gloated over the trouble that came to him(DQ)—
30 I have not allowed my mouth to sin
by invoking a curse against their life(DR)—
31 if those of my household have never said,
‘Who has not been filled with Job’s meat?’(DS)—
32 but no stranger had to spend the night in the street,
for my door was always open to the traveler(DT)—
33 if I have concealed(DU) my sin as people do,[f]
by hiding(DV) my guilt in my heart
34 because I so feared the crowd(DW)
and so dreaded the contempt of the clans
that I kept silent(DX) and would not go outside—
35 (“Oh, that I had someone to hear me!(DY)
I sign now my defense—let the Almighty answer me;
let my accuser(DZ) put his indictment in writing.
36 Surely I would wear it on my shoulder,(EA)
I would put it on like a crown.(EB)
37 I would give him an account of my every step;(EC)
I would present it to him as to a ruler.(ED))—
38 “if my land cries out against me(EE)
and all its furrows are wet(EF) with tears,
39 if I have devoured its yield without payment(EG)
or broken the spirit of its tenants,(EH)
40 then let briers(EI) come up instead of wheat
and stinkweed(EJ) instead of barley.”
The words of Job are ended.(EK)
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.