Beginning

29 Also Job added, taking his parable, and said, (And Job added again to his parable, and said,)

² Who giveth to me, that I be beside the eld months, by the days in which God kept me? (Who giveth to me, that once more I be, like in the months gone by, yea, those days in which God looked after me?)

³ When his lantern shined on mine head, and I went in darknesses at his light (and I walked through the darkness by his light).

⁴ As I was in the days of my youth, when in private God was in my tabernacle (when privately, or secretly, God watched over my tent, or my home).

⁵ When Almighty God was with me, and my children were in my compass (and my children were all about me);

⁶ when I washed my feet in butter, and the stone shedded out to me the streams of oil; [(when I washed my feet with butter, and the stone poured out for me rivers of oil;)]

⁷ when I went forth to the gate of the city, and in the street they made ready a chair to me (and in the street they prepared a chair for me).

⁸ Young wanton men saw me, and were hid, and eld men rising up stood (and old men rose, and stood up to honour me);

⁹ princes ceased to speak, and they putted their finger on their mouth; (leaders ceased to speak, and they covered their mouths with their hands;)

¹⁰ dukes refrained their voice, and their tongue cleaved to their throat. (rulers refrained their voices, and their tongues cleaved to the roofs of their mouths.)

¹¹ The ear that heard me, blessed me, and the eye that saw me, yielded witnessing to me (bare witness for me/testified for me);

¹² for I delivered the poor man crying [out], and the fatherless child, that had no helper. (for I saved the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless child who had no helper.)

¹³ The blessing of a man (who was ready) to perish came (up)on me, and I comforted the heart of the widow.

¹⁴ I was clothed with rightfulness; and I clothed me as with a cloak, and with my doom a diadem. (I was clothed in righteousness, yea, it covered me; and my judgement was like a robe, and a crown.)

¹⁵ I was eye to a blind man, and foot to a crooked man. (I was an eye for the blind, and feet for the lame.)

¹⁶ I was a father of poor men; and I inquired most diligently the cause, which I knew not. (I was a father to the poor; and I inquired most diligently into their case, or their trouble, of which I knew not.)

¹⁷ I all-brake the great teeth of the wicked man (I broke the teeth of the wicked), and I took away the prey from his teeth.

¹⁸ And I said, I shall die in my nest; and as a palm tree I shall multiply my days (and my days shall be numbered like the sand/like the phoenix).

¹⁹ My root is opened beside (the) waters, and dew shall dwell in my reaping (and dew shall stay on my branches).

²⁰ My glory shall ever[more] be renewed (My glory shall be renewed forevermore), and my bow shall be restored in mine hand.

²¹ They, that heard me, abided my sentence; and they were attentive, or taking heed to me, and they were still at my counsel. (They, who heard me, waited for my pronouncement; and they were attentive, or taking heed to me, and they listened to what I said.)

²² They durst nothing add to my words (They dared add nothing to my words); and my speech dropped upon them.

²³ They abided me as (for the) rain; and they opened their mouth as to the soft rain coming late. (They waited for my words like for they waited for the rain; and they opened their mouths to drink them in, like the soft rain that cometh late.)

²⁴ If any time I laughed to them, they believed not; and the light of my cheer, that is, the gladness of my face, felled not down into the earth. (When I smiled on them, they took heart; and the light of my face, that is, the cheerfulness in my face towards them, encouraged them.)

²⁵ If I would go to them, I sat the first; and when I sat as [a] king, while the host stood about, nevertheless I was [the] comforter of them that mourned. (When I went to them, I was the first to sit; and when I sat like a king, while his army stood all around, I was the comforter of those who mourned.)

30 But now younger men in time scorn me, whose fathers I deigned^[a] not to set with the dogs of my flock. (But now men younger than me scorn me, men whose fathers I would not deign to put with the dogs of my flock.)

² Of which men the strength of their hands was for nought to me, and they were guessed unworthy to that life (yea, they were too weak to be of any use to me).

³ They were barren for neediness and hunger; they gnawed in (the) wilderness, and were (made) pale for poverty and wretchedness;

⁴ and they ate herbs, and the rinds of trees; and the root of junipers was their meat. (and they ate grass, and the bark of trees; and juniper roots were their food.)

⁵ The which men ravished these things from great valleys; and when(ever) they had found any of all these things, they ran with (a) cry to them. (They were driven out from among men, who cried after them, as if they were thieves.)

⁶ They dwelled in deserts of strands, and in caves of [the] earth, either on gravel. (They lived in dried up riverbeds, and in caves of the earth, and on rocks.)

⁷ Which were glad among such things (And they were happy there), and they areckoned (it) as delights to be under bushes.

⁸ These were the sons of fools, and of unnoble men, and utterly appearing not on [the] earth. (They were the sons of fools, and of unnoble men, and were soon driven out of the land.)

⁹ But now I am turned into the song of them, and I am made a proverb to them.

¹⁰ They hold me abominable, and they flee far from me, and dread not to spit on my face (and do not fear to spit in my face).

¹¹ For God hath opened his arrow case, and he hath tormented me, and he hath put a bridle into my mouth.

¹² At the right side of the east my wretchednesses have risen up at once; they turned upside-down my feet, and they oppressed me with their paths as with floods. (On my right side they attack me in a mob; they set my feet running, and they raise against me the ways of their destruction.)

¹³ They destroyed my ways; they setted treason to me, and they had the mastery; and there was none that helped me (and there was no one who helped me).

¹⁴ They felled in upon me as by a broken wall, and by (a) gate opened (and by an opened gate), and (they) were stretched forth to my wretchednesses.

¹⁵ I am driven into nought; he took away my desire as [the] wind, and mine help passed away as a cloud. (I am driven down into nothing; these torments have swept away my hope like the wind, and my help hath passed away like a cloud.)

¹⁶ But now my soul fadeth in myself, and [the] days of torment hold me steadfastly. (But now my life fadeth in myself, and the days of torment strongly hold me.)

¹⁷ In [the] night my bone is pierced with sorrows; and they, that eat me (who eat me), sleep not.

¹⁸ In the multitude of those my cloth is wasted (In the multitude of them my cloak is destroyed), and they have girded me (about) as with the collar of a coat.

¹⁹ I am comparisoned to clay, and I am made like to a dead spark and ashes.

²⁰ I shall cry to thee, and thou shalt not hear me; I stand, and thou beholdest not me. (I cry to thee, but thou hearest me not/but thou answerest me not; I stand up, but thou seest me not.)

²¹ Thou art changed into cruel to me, and in the hardness of thine hand thou art adversary to me. (Thou art cruel towards me, and with thy hard hand thou hast become an adversary to me.)

²² Thou hast raised me, and hast set me as on (the) wind; and hast hurtled me down strongly. (Thou hast raised me up, and set me on the wind; and then thou hast strongly hurtled me down.)

²³ I know, that thou shalt betake me to death, where an house is ordained to each living man. (I know that thou shalt deliver me unto death, where a house is ordained for each man who liveth.)

²⁴ Nevertheless thou sendest not out thine hand to the wasting of them; and if they fall down, thou shalt save them.

²⁵ I wept sometime on him that was tormented, and my soul had compassion on a poor man. (There were times when I wept over those who were tormented, and my soul had compassion for the poor.)

²⁶ I abode goods, and evils be come to me; I abode light, and darknesses brake out. (And I waited for good things, but only evil came to me; I waited for the light, but only darkness broke out.)

²⁷ Mine inner things boiled out without my rest (My innards, or my bowels, boiled without any rest); and [the] days of torment came before me.

²⁸ I went mourning, and I rose up without strong vengeance in the company, and I cried. (I went in mourning, and without any sunshine, or comfort; I rose up in the congregation, and I cried for help.)

²⁹ I was the brother of dragons, and the fellow of ostriches.

³⁰ My skin was made black upon me, and my bones dried for heat (and my bones dried up from the heat).

³¹ Mine harp is turned into mourning, and mine organ into the voice of weepers. (My harp is tuned for mourning, and my organ to the voice of those who weep.)

31 I made [a] covenant with mine eyes, that I should not think on a virgin. (I made a covenant with my eyes, that I would not look at a young girl.)

² For what part should God above have in me, and what heritage should Almighty God of high things have in me? (For I thought, what is the portion from God above, and what is the inheritance from Almighty God on high?)

³ Whether perdition is not to a wicked man, and alienation of God is to men working wickedness? (Is it not perdition for the wicked, and alienation from God for those working wickedness?)

⁴ Whether he beholdeth not my ways, and numbereth all my goings?

⁵ If I have gone in vanity, and my foot hath hasted to go in guile, (I have not gone in pride, and my feet have not gone in guile;)

⁶ God weigh me in a just balance, and know he my simpleness. (let God weigh me in a just balance, and he shall know my innocence.)

⁷ If my step(s) have bowed from the way; and if mine eye(s) have followed mine heart, consenting to lust, and if a spot have cleaved to mine hands;

⁸ (then) sow I, and another eat, and my generation be drawn out by the root.

⁹ And if mine heart was deceived on a woman, and if I have set ambush at the door of my friend; (And if my heart hath been deceived by a woman, or if I have set ambush at the door of my friend;)

¹⁰ my wife be then the whore of another man, and other men be bowed down upon her. (then let my wife be the whore of another man, and let other men be bowed down upon her.)

¹¹ For this is unleaveful, and the most wickedness. (For this is unlawful, and the greatest of wickedness.)

¹² Fire is devouring till to wasting, and drawing up by the root all generations. (It is a fire devouring unto destruction, and drawing up by the roots all of my descendants.)

¹³ If I despised to take doom with my servant and with mine handmaid, when they strived against me. (If I despised to do justly with my slave, or with my slave-girl, when they complained against me,)

¹⁴ What soothly shall I do, when God shall rise up to deem? and when he shall ask, what shall I answer to him? (then what shall I do, when God shall rise up to judge? and when he shall ask, what shall I answer to him?)

¹⁵ Whether he, that wrought also him, made not me in the womb, and one God formed me in the womb? (Did not he, who made me in the womb, make not also them? yea, the one God formed each of us in the womb.)

¹⁶ If I denied to poor men that, that they would, and if I made the eyes of a widow to abide; (If I denied to the poor what they needed, or if I made the eyes of a widow to have despair;)

¹⁷ (or) if I alone ate my morsel, and a fatherless child ate not thereof;

¹⁸ for merciful doing increased with me, (or was granted me,) from my young childhood, and it went out of my mother’s womb with me;

¹⁹ if I despised a man passing forth by me, for he had not a cloth (because he had no cloak), and a poor man without (any) covering;

²⁰ if his sides blessed not me, and were not made hot of the fleece of my sheep; (if his body had no reason to bless me, because he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;)

²¹ if I raised up mine hand upon a fatherless child, yea, when I saw me the higher (one) in the gate; (if I raised my hand against a fatherless child, when I knew that the higher men would overlook it;)

²² my shoulder fall from his joint, and mine arm with his bones be all-broken. (then let my shoulder come out of its joint, and the bones of my arm be all-broken.)

²³ For ever[more] I dreaded God, as waves waxing great upon me; and I might not bear his burden. (But I have always feared God, like waves growing great upon me; and so I could never do any of these things.)

²⁴ If I guessed gold (to be) my strength, and I said to pured gold, Thou art my trust (Thou art what I trust in);

²⁵ if I was glad on my many riches, and for mine hand found full many things;

²⁶ if I saw the sun, when it shined, and the moon going clearly (and the moon moving in its glory);

²⁷ and if mine heart was glad in private, and if I kissed mine hand with my mouth;

²⁸ the which is the most wickedness, and denying against the highest God; (all of this is most wicked, and a denial of the God on high;)

²⁹ if I had joy at the falling of him, that hated me, and if I joyed fully, that evil had found him; (and if I had great joy at the falling of him who hated me, and if I had rejoiced, that evil had finally found him;)

³⁰ for I gave not my throat to do sin, that I should assail and curse his soul; (but I did not give my tongue over to sin, and assail his soul with cursing;)

³¹ if the men of my tabernacle said not, Who giveth, that we be [ful]filled of his fleshes? (even if the men of my household said, O God, that we be filled full with his flesh!)

³² a pilgrim dwelled not withoutforth; my door was (always) open to a way-goer/to a way-faring man;

³³ if I as [a] man (ever) hid my sin, and covered (up) my wickedness in my bosom;

³⁴ if I dreaded at [the] full great multitude, and if despising of neighbours made me afeared; and not more, (that) I was still, and went not out of the door; (if I feared all the people, or if the despising of my neighbours made me afraid; and not only that, but if I held my peace, and did not even go out the door;)

³⁵ who giveth then an helper to me, that Almighty God hear my desire? that he that deemeth, write a book, (then who shall be my helper? my only desire is that Almighty God would listen to me. And if my adversary hath written a book against me,)

³⁶ that I bear it on my shoulder, and compass it as a crown to me? (then I would carry it on my shoulder, and wear it like a crown.)

³⁷ By all my degrees I shall pronounce it, and I shall as (an) offering offer it to the prince. (I shall declare all the steps, that my life hath taken, and I shall offer them like I would an offering to the prince.)

³⁸ If my land crieth against me, and his furrows weep with it (and its furrows weep with it);

³⁹ if I ate (the) fruits thereof without money, and I tormented the soul of (the) earth-tillers of it;

⁴⁰ a briar grow to me for wheat, and a thorn for barley. (then let briars grow for me instead of wheat, and thorns instead of barley. And so Job’s words were ended.)